Postal Service Cuts Will Slow First-Class Mail

Unprecedented cuts by the financially struggling United States Postal Service will slow delivery of first-class mail beginning in the spring and, for the first time in 40 years, eliminate the chance for stamped letters to arrive the next day.

The estimated $3 billion in reductions are part of a wide-ranging effort by the Postal Service to quickly trim costs and avert bankruptcy.

The cuts could slow everything from check payments to Netflix DVDs by mail, add costs to mail-order prescription drugs and threaten the existence of newspapers and time-sensitive magazines delivered by postal carrier to far-flung suburban and rural communities.