Not only is ending the Saturday home delivery a poor business decision for the United States Postal Service, it is likely illegal.

Much ado has been made over the USPS’s announcement earlier this week that it would go to a 5-days-a-week delivery schedule in August. It was essentially announced as a done deal.

It isn’t.

The case has always been that lawmakers mandated the delivery days and two Congressmen, from both sides of the aisle, are standing up for this.

“Logic dictates that when USPS and the Administration repeatedly request that Congress explicitly provide USPS the authority to reduce mail service from 6-days to 5-days, it is clear acknowledgement that, absent Congressional action, USPS lacks the statutory authority to do so,” Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Sam Graves (R-Mo.) wrote in a letter to the nation’s postmaster general.

Another problem is these changes will only save the agency about $2 billion a year. That may sound like a lot of money but considering the USPS lost more than $15 billion last fiscal year, it shows there are far bigger operational challenges.

Approximately 70 percent of that is tied to defaults on required prepayments for retiree health care — something that other government agencies aren’t required to do.

No one will argue that changes need to be made but this is the wrong approach.

It will drastically hurt tens of thousands of businesses and millions of Americans who rely on Saturday mail services.

Waiting that extra day for mail could be the difference between paying bills, making a profit or simply having the money to put food on the table.

Cutting Saturday delivery will drive many businesses to look at other alternatives, further sparking the decline of the postal service.

A smarter approach would be to find ways to better meet the needs of America’s businesses and citizens.