(KAIR/AP) -- With the announcement that Saturday mail delivery could come to an end in August from the U.S. Postal service, many organizations are reacting.

Frederic Rolando, head of the federal letter carriers union says the move is “a disastrous idea” and will hurt "millions of customers" -- particularly businesses, rural communities, the elderly, the disabled and others who depend on Saturday delivery.
 
He also says it goes against the will of Congress as expressed over the past 30 years.

Under the plan -- aimed at saving up to $2 billion a year -- mail would go to homes and businesses from Monday through Friday. Packages would still be delivered on Saturday.

Mail would still be delivered to post office boxes on Saturdays, and post offices now open on Saturdays would remain open.

Postmaster General, Patrick Donahoe, says research indicates that nearly 7 in 10 Americans support the switch to five-day delivery as a way for the Postal Service to reduce costs.

Locally, Postmasters have been somewhat left in the dark.

Atchison Post Office Postmaster Tara Jarrett first learned of the USPS’s intentions when she arrived at work Wednesday morning.

It was also the same time the area union steward learned of the news.

Jarrett says she informed her 22 employees about the announcement and is still awaiting further information on what will happen moving forward.

Congress included a ban on five-day delivery in its appropriations bill.
 
But because the federal government is now operating under a temporary spending measure, rather than an appropriations bill, Donahoe says the agency believes it can make the change itself.

He says the agency is asking Congress not to re-impose the ban when the spending measure expires on March 27.