The United States Postal Service (USPS) announced this morning that first-class mail will no longer be delivered on Saturdays starting the first week in August 2013. Packages, express and priority mail, and medicines will still be delivered.

Post offices that are currently open on Saturdays will stay open.

The USPS has been operating at a loss for the past few years, with last fiscal year showing a record loss of $15.9 billion. $11.1 billion of this loss was due to the congressional law that the USPS must pre-pay for the health benefits of its future retirees.

This move closely follows another rate hike for stamps that occurred on January 27, when postage rates for first-class stamps went up by one cent to 46 cents.

“We are losing $25 million per day,” Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe warned in January. The USPS' board of governors stated in January they could “no longer afford to wait for legislation” to save the postal service. 

“The postal service plans to issue a revised, comprehensive 5-year financial plan. This plan will identify important cost-reduction activities and steps to restore the postal service to long-term financial stability. The postal service is currently on an unsustainable financial path and must move forward with actions that are responsible and necessary,” said Tom Rizzo, spokesman for the post office’s northern New England district.