Counting on mail service six days a week is virtually a birth-right, but now the U.S. Postal Service wants to kill the sacred cow.

"I think it's not a good idea," said surprised postal patron Cornell Wade when told of the plan to eliminate Saturday service.

At a Tuesday news conference in Washington, D.C., postal officials spelled out the problem.

"Any paper-based communication is being challenged by how they exist and provide their services in an Internet world," said John Potter, Postmaster General.

The popularity of e-mail and electronic commerce continues to steal business away from what many have come to call "snail mail."

When combining looming budget shortfalls with the fact mail volume dropped last year by 13 percent, major cost cutting is inevitable.

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