Hawaii U.S. Sens. Dan Inouye and Daniel Akaka have joined their Alaska colleagues in calling for hearings in their respective states on a Postal Service proposal to reduce mail delivery to five days a week.

The cost-saving proposal to do away with Saturday mail delivery has been called one of the “most significant changes” ever presented to the Postal Regulator Commission.

The Commission already has held hearings on the proposal in Las Vegas, Sacramento, Dallas and Memphis, with hearings set later this month in Chicago, Rapid City, South Dakota, and Buffalo, New York. 

In a letter today to Commission Chairwoman Ruth Y. Goldway, the senators say information gleaned from hearings in the Lower 48 “will bear little relevance to the concerns of the people of Alaska and Hawaii. Such concerns include the likely degradation of efficient and timely delivery of medication, food, water and other necessities.”

The Commission has invited the public to submit testimony on the proposal at its website, http://prc.gov.