Uncle Vernon: “Fine day Sunday. In my opinion, best day of the week. Why is that, Dudley?”

When Dudley failed to respond, Harry responded with, “Because there’s no post on Sundays?”

Uncle Vernon: “Right you are, Harry! No post on Sundays. Hah!”

Now, I’ve always been a fan of getting mail (until I recently discovered the joys of bills). Postcards, birthday cards, letters — what’s not to love? I even spent a cold and snowy Saturday afternoon in Washington, D.C., visiting the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum with my oldest brother.

But I never really get postcards or letters on Saturdays, let alone the other days of the week. I get the occasional birthday card (I’d say about once per year) but it’s cheaper to email a greeting than send something by mail.

But do we really need six days of mail delivery?                                                                                       

About two months ago, the United States Postal Service tried to change that to “no post on the weekends.” Instead of being shocked, most Americans seemed to support this decision. A Gallup Poll taken in February found 63 percent supported ending mail delivery on Saturdays.

And until recently, I would have whole-heartedly agreed with most Americans.

The move would have saved the USPS $2 billion annually just by canceling one day of first-class mail. Last year alone, they lost almost $16 billion because of payments for retiree health benefits and decline in revenue mail operations — thanks to the Internet.

Just because the USPS proposes no mail on Saturdays does not mean people won’t get packages. They constructed their plan so that packages such as medicine will still arrive on time.

Medicine people rely on to live would have still been delivered on time had the policy changed. Netflix by mail, however, would not, nor would magazines or direct mail.

And yes, private companies such as FedEx and UPS would still be available. So it would not be as if communication via post would be impossible.

While USPS decided this almost two months ago, Congress decided over spring break to ignore the USPS’ request to switch to a five-day program.

Rural communities would have been the ones to truly suffer on a five-day program, and to be honest, they are the ones I forgot about when I agreed that there should be no mail on Saturdays.

Here at the University of Illinois, I have Internet available to me at all times of the day. If my Internet fails in my apartment at 3 a.m., I can just head over to the UGL. At home in suburbia? Same story. Bills? I can pay them via direct deposit — the same way I receive my paycheck every two weeks.  

But not everyone has constant Internet access. 20 percent of the United States lives in rural America. For many, mail is their connection to the rest of the country. And it’s not just rural areas, but small businesses and the elderly too.  Unlike my grandparents, many older folks may not be able to pay their bills online or have constant access to email. States such as Hawaii and Alaska would suffer as well. They all rely on the USPS for their mail six days of the week.

And while post offices themselves would still be open on Saturdays, more than 22,000 jobs could be lost. As the country is still trying to recover from the recession, this is not the time to cut jobs.

Back in the country’s beginnings, three out of every four federal workers were U.S. postal workers. While that is not true today, those are still jobs we cannot afford to take away from hard-working Americans.

Does this mean I have entirely changed my mind on no Saturday first-class mail?

No. I still think eventually we should dwindle down to a five-day mail week. To leave it at six days might lead to the demise of the USPS. It’s broke. The government is broke. They need to find a way to conserve money, and if cutting down one day a week can save $2 billion, that might be a good way to go once the economy becomes more stable. Along with that, everyone must have access to the Internet and understand how to perform basic functions like sending emails and paying bills.

But until then, I root for Uncle Vernon to continue saying “No post on Sundays” versus “No post on weekends.”

Joanna is a senior in LAS. She can be reached at [email protected].