WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service released the results of a new survey today showing 80 percent of Americans support the new six-day package, five-day mail delivery schedule announced last week that the Postal Service intends to implement the week of Aug. 5, 2013. The survey, commissioned for the Postal Service, was completed by Ipsos, a leading independent market research company.

“These survey results illustrate the strong public support for our new delivery schedule in communities across the country,” said Postmaster General and CEO Patrick R. Donahoe. “The American public understands the financial challenges of the Postal Service and supports this new delivery schedule as a prudent, responsible and reasonable approach to address our urgent financial situation.”

The survey, conducted between February 8-11, shows consistently high support for the new six-day package, five-day mail delivery schedule among urban, suburban, and rural communities as well as among all age groups and income levels.

Survey Question: Do you support the decision of the Postal Service to begin delivering mail five days per week and packages six days per week, including continuing package delivery on Saturdays?

Support rose to 85 percent among all respondents when asked if they would support the new delivery schedule if it helped stabilize the financial situation of the Postal Service.   The survey included responses from 1,002 U.S. residents ages 18 and over and has a margin of error of ± 3.1 percent. 

Market research previously conducted by the Postal Service and independent research by major news outlets indicated that nearly seven out of ten Americans (70 percent) supported the switch to five-day delivery as a way for the Postal Service to reduce costs in its effort to return the organization to financial stability.  By maintaining six-day package delivery, support for the new delivery schedule increased to 80 percent support according to the recent survey results. While recent surveys conducted by major news outlets again show seven out of ten Americans support moving to a five-day mail delivery schedule, the USPS poll results are slightly higher because it emphasized the continued six-day delivery of packages and that the new delivery schedule would help improve the financial footing of the Postal Service.

To download a copy of the complete survey, please visit http://about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm