Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe says cutting back mail delivery to three days a week is not under
consideration right now, but could happen in 15 or 20 years if mail volume continues to decline.

He said what the Postal Service needs right now are changes in the law allowing it to reduce delivery to five days a week, and resolving an annual requirement for it to pay $5.5 billion into a fund for future retiree medical costs.

Thanks to the decline in mail volume caused by the recession, and as people shift to the Internet for letters and bill paying, the post office had a loss of $8 billion last year and is headed for a similar loss this year.