DEBATE CONTINUES concerning the fate of the U.S. Postal Service and the possible ways to stop its ever-deepening budget deficit.

At the forefront of such revenue-saving dialogue is the elimination of Saturday mail delivery. We view that as not the correct postal route to go.

If such a plan is enacted we believe it would yield more problems than benefits.

Some of the drawbacks if such a proposal is enacted are:

• No Saturday street delivery of mail would result in slower services for invoices and business correspondence, including client orders, vendor bills and payments from customers;

• Also no collections and pickups, including blue boxes, would delay the delivery of outbound mail to clients, partners and vendors;

• No Saturday delivery would eliminate the ability to target advertising mail for delivery on the most important shopping day of the week, undermining sales on Saturday and Sunday;

• Higher costs for shipping and receiving packages and advertising will result as private delivery firms will be able to raise their prices;

• Three-day weekends for federal holidays will translate into just four-day service 10 weeks a year, yielding even slower service.

In fairness to The U.S. Postal Service, it has been handcuffed by a few factors out of its control.

First, the Postal Service has overpaid $75 billion to the federal government’s pension system. The overbilling was due to Office of Personnel management calculations.

Secondly, the Postal Service was a profitable entity until it was mandated to pre-fund retiree health benefits over a 10-year period.

Toss in the massive recession and it all adds up to a Postal Service drowning in red ink. Just two years ago, it boasted a $2.8 billion surplus.

As we see it, postal customers will be the ones who suffer from the void in Saturday delivery with no financial gain in return. Cutting Saturday delivery is not the answer, giving the Postal Service a level playing field is.