The U.S. Postal Service announced last week a plan to cut letter services on Saturdays and soon implement a five-day mail delivery service.
The change will go into effect in August if Congress, which is responsible for managing the government service, does not take legislative action to stop it.
The postal service in recent years has struggled to maintain its normal operations, due to a decline in revenue.
The change comes in response to the postal service’s $15.9 billion net loss in 2012, according to the Sacramento Bee.
The postal service foresees savings of $2 billion annually by cutting Saturday letter delivery.
However, the service will continue to deliver packages on Saturdays.
USPS representatives said the decision was made after a series of surveys and investigation on whether customers could justify the cut.
Letter delivery to students living in on-campus housing will be affected in that students will no longer receive mail six days a week. This will not affect, however, the Associated Students UCLA postal service in Ackerman Student Union. The location is not open on weekends and only mails out items, instead of accepting deliveries.
“I don’t see this change as particularly impacting this community,” said Director of the UCLA Student Union Roy Champawat.
Out of the many students lining up at the post office, only a few said they still use its letter delivery services.
Yet those who still use letter correspondence said it provides a personal touch that electronic communication cannot.
“Personally, I’m in a long-distance relationship across the country, so mail is important,” said first-year English student JoAnna Schindler. “Letters are more personal because they require more thought. It forces people to use language more carefully.”
But for some students, the loss of Saturday delivery has a deeper meaning.
“It’s not a huge thing as far as functioning as a mail center, but it is symbolic,” said first-year business and economics student Landon Alecxih. “I always feel sad when technology infringes on old things.”
Congress has six months to decide whether or not to keep Saturday deliveries.