A long-awaited change set to alleviate the debt-ridden United States Postal Service will arrive in August when mail will no longer be delivered on Saturdays.

Beginning the first week in August, only packages will be delivered to residential addresses six days a week in an effort to save the postal agency $2 billion a year, according to the USPS. However, post office operating hours on Saturdays will not be effected and residents with post office boxes will still receive mail on Saturdays.

“It is strictly about delivery,” said Michael Miles, USPS Atlanta-based communications manager Friday. “We won’t deliver mail on Saturdays but we will still deliver to the post office boxes and the retail side will not be affected.”

Miles said general customer reaction is overwhelmingly in favor of the change and customers have said mail delivery on Saturday is no longer as critical as it once was. 

According to information released by the USPS, market research conducted by the postal service and independent research by major news organizations indicates that nearly seven out of 10 Americans 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.

Paula Dial, owner of PostNet on Salem Road, said she is not expecting her package and mail business to be affected by the change.

“I think it is going to be a good thing because it will save a lot of money,” Dial said this week. “We will just have more mail on Monday... A lot of times, it is not necessary to get mail on Saturday. It is much better to cut a few hours than to cut people and jobs altogether.”