Mailers are encouraged to review the new standards in preparation for the change. Additional materials will be published shortly, including a new Quick Service Guide.

Mailers are encouraged to review and comment by May 30 by writing to the Manager of Mailing Standards, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Room 3436, Washington DC 20260-3436, or via e-mail to IMB&EDOC@usps.gov.

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We encourage mailers to review and comment by May 5, 2008.

The comment period will extend 30 days from the date the notice appears in the Federal Register. Mailers are encouraged to review and comment on this proposal as soon as possible. Mailers may submit additional comments any time within the comment period. 

Price adjustments sought by the Postal Service for its competitive products will affect rates for Priority Mail, Express Mail, Parcel Select, Parcel Return Service and certain international mail offerings. The planned adjustments are scheduled to take effect on May 12, 2008.

Please click here to view the PRC’s Press Release and Decision Summary. Please visit www.prc.gov for more details. 

The second is for International Priority Airmail (IPA) service and International Surface Air Lift (ISAL) service. These changes reflect the new international shape-based standards. The new prices for IPA and ISAL follow the existing piece and pound pricing structure. In addition, we are adopting new country price groups for First-Class Mail International M-Bag — Direct Sacks to One Addressee service. These changes reflect the nine country price groups for First-Class Mail International.

The USPS will post an advance copy of the Federal Register notice supporting mailing standards changes for international Shipping Services and details the requirements to qualify for new commercial base and commercial volume pricing as soon as it is available.

The report followed a 3-month review of the Postal Service’s 2007 Annual Compliance Report, supplemental material, evaluation of public comments, and an assessment of data and information provided in various technical conferences.

Click here to view a press release, a message from Chairman Blair, Principle Findings and three charts.

The entire Compliance Determination is on the Commission’s website, www.prc.gov, under today’s “Daily Listing.”

The Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers will be hosting a half day conference on Tuesday, April 15 featuring Congressman Danny Davis, Postal Regulatory Commission Chairman Dan Blair, and other A-list national leaders in the postal world.

March 26 (Bloomberg)—The U.S. Postal Service can’t account for at least $33.4 million in facilities-repair and vehicle expenses last year because of weak controls and lax oversight, two reports from the agency’s inspector general’s office said.

The Postal Service couldn’t assure that any of the $27.6 million in maintenance and repair expenses at facilities examined by auditors were used for that purpose, according to one of the reports posted on the agency’s Web site.

Some supervisors weren’t aware that they were responsible for overseeing expenses, that audit found. Other employees with limited knowledge of the repairs certified that they were properly done by contractors.

Without standard procedures, ``the safety, security and serviceability of Postal Service facilities, employees and customers are at increased risk,’’ the March 3 report said. And without established controls over contractors, ``there is an increased risk of fraud and abuse,’’ it said.

The audit covered facilities in all or part of 33 states, including Texas, Pennsylvania and Ohio, Postal Service spokesman David Partenheimer said.

Another audit found that postal vehicles on some city routes in 15 states had more than $5.8 million in questionable costs. Some vehicles were logged in as having traveled millions of miles in a single accounting period, while others were recorded as having gone a negative number of miles, the March 4 report said.

Loss

The findings come as the Postal Service, a government agency required by law to set rates to cover costs, tries to cope with a possible $2 billion loss this year after a $5.1 billion deficit last year. Postmaster General Chief Executive John Potter said this month that he’s seeking ways to cut costs. First-class stamps will rise a penny to 42 cents on May 12.

The Postal Service created a new position for a facilities executive who is to develop and implement best repair practices by September 2009, one report said. He is to issue instructions for monitoring finance reports by May 2. With regard to vehicles on city routes, the agency will print instructions on how to record mileage by March 2009, the other report said.

``For both these reports we refer you to management’s comments, which remains our response,’’ Partenheimer said in an e-mail today.

Other audits released in the past month have identified potential savings. One reported that Postal Service facilities in four states incurred $17.8 million in unnecessary costs by using FedEx Corp. aircraft to ship mail.

Another found that the agency undercharged China, India and other countries by millions of dollars because of errors in processing mail at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

To contact the reporter on this story: Neil Roland in Washington at

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The U.S. Postal Service has published a notice changing prices for Shipping Services in today’s Federal Register [HTML] | [PDF]. This notice provides a summary of changes and the complete Shipping Services pricing tables that take effect May 12.

The new “no-stat” and “vacant” tables are available through Coding Accuracy Support System address matching software (CASS Certified™) as part of the Delivery Point Validation (DPV™) product.  The tables are simple to use and can help mailers save on production and postage costs by reducing undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) mail. If an address is flagged as vacant, the recommended course of action is to remove that address from the mailing until it becomes occupied again. 

By utilizing CASS Certified™ software, mailers can standardize addresses and obtain the correct ZIP + 4® assignments and associated delivery point codes (DPC). CASS Certified™ software using DPV™ logic can determine if the ZIP + 4® coded address is recognized as a valid delivery within the USPS delivery network, further strengthening the quality and deliverability of address lists. Additionally, CASS Certified™ software is necessary for mailers claiming presorted, carrier route, and automation rates. The use of this software is the first step in effectively managing overall mailing costs and obtaining eligibility for postage incentives. 

To learn more, mailers can contact their DPV™ product vendor to learn whether these new tables are incorporated in their products. If mailers are using a service bureau to process address lists, ask that provider to use these tables during processing. The release of the “no-stat” and “vacant” tables is another example of the Postal Service’s ongoing commitment to address quality and helping the mailing industry make effective and efficient use of the mail. 

“Barred by law from lobbying, the Postal Service is nonetheless trying to make its case before a growing number of state legislatures that are weighing bills to create Do Not Mail registries, which are similar to the popular National Do Not Call Registry.

The agency has printed 3,000 “information packets” about the economic value of standard mail, with specific data for each of the 18 states that have considered a Do Not Mail Registry. It has dispatched postmasters to testify before legislative committees around the country.

The Postal Service is working closely with the Direct Marketing Association, the trade group that represents retailers and the printing industry, in its new campaign—Mail Moves America—which is designed to quash the Do Not Mail initiatives.

A national registry “would affect anybody who mails,” said Laura Hickey, senior director of global warming education at the National Wildlife Foundation, which belongs to the Direct Marketing Association. “I don’t think it would be any different whether you were for-profit or nonprofit.’’ As an alternative, the National Wildlife Foundation, the Natural Resources Defense Council and other groups have created Catalogue Choice, a program that asks retailers to voluntarily stop sending catalogues to anyone who signs up for the free online service at http://www.catalogchoice.org.

“If people participate in a voluntary system, then I don’t see the need for a legislative strategy,” Hickey said. When Catalogue Choice was launched in October, the foundation expected about 150,000 people to sign up in the first year. Six months into the project, more than 642,000 people have joined. “It obviously filled a void,” Hickey said.

Still, it is unclear how many marketers are voluntarily heeding requests to stop mailing.”

Click here to view full article.

Chairman Dan G. Blair announced the Commissioners’ unanimous decision that the increases for market dominant products are, on average, within the applicable 2.9 percent price cap for each class of mail. Blair noted the Commission completed its review within the compressed timeframe dictated by its regulations finalized last October.

“Enactment of the PAEA brought about a fundamental paradigm change,” Blair said. “The new regulatory system replaced the lengthy, oftentimes adversarial system between the Postal Service and its customers with a 45-day review that ensures increases do not exceed inflation at the class level. Ensuring price stability and predictability within this $900 billion sector of the economy is important, especially during these challenging economic times,” Blair noted.

Click here to view the PRC’s press release and a two page summary from the Commission’s review.

The full review may be accessed on the PRC website under Daily Listing.