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If you haven't sent out your Christmas cards yet, you might want to get on it, quick. Snail mail just got slower. The cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service announced Monday that it's going to end next-day delivery of letters, postcards and other First Class mail. The agency is looking to find $20 billion in annual savings by 2015, about $3 billion of which could come from various plans to shrink the network. But what will become of the letter?

It may take a bit longer for your first-class mail to reach its destination.

In a Senate hearing yesterday, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe called for Congress to take action to help the U.S. Postal Service pay its bills and avoid defaulting. In his testimony, Donahoe proposed cutting more than 120,000 jobs, closing 300 out of 500 processing centers and thousands of post offices around the country, and eliminating Saturday mail delivery. The Obama administration has proposed giving the USPS an extra three months to make a $5.5 billion payment due on Sept. 30.

State Senator Bill Perkins has a mailer seeking input about the rat problem in upper Manhattan. He also uses it to tout his “fight to eradicate rodents from our community.”

My favorite line:

“As a result of that struggle, City government hired a nationally renowned rodentologist…”

I’m also waiting to see how colleague Kate Hinds responds to question 4 of the rat survey on the back of the mailer:

How would you describe the rat problem:

-mild

-severe

-state of emergency

-there is no rat problem

 

Receiving mail on Saturdays could soon be a thing of the past, if the United States Postal Service has its way. The organization, which has been struggling in the wake of an extreme dip in business, has proposed a set of changes that could help it survive, including ending deliveries on Saturdays and closing down offices.