Author: Steve Kearney

  • Court Rules Exigent will not be Permanent

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    Steve Kearney
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    June 5, 2015 Today, we received the much-anticipated decision by the court on the 4.3 percent exigent surcharge that all mailers have been paying. The US Appeals Court ruled today that the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) was reasonable to determine that the impact of the 2007-2009 recession is exceptional only for a limited time until…

  • Postal Service Cannot Keep Emergency Price Hike Forever, Court Rules

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    Steve Kearney
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      Postal Service Cannot Keep Emergency Price Hike Forever, Court Rules By Eric Katz June 5, 2015 5 Comments RELATED USPS Suspends Remaining Facility Closures Scheduled for 2015 May 26, 2015 9Comments Congress Once Again Tries to Save the Postal Service May 5, 2015 32Comments How Reality-Altering Glasses Could Save the Postal Service Millions April…

  • Consumer Reports Drops 2 Publications

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    Steve Kearney
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    ARTICLE JUNE 01, 2015 Consumer Reports Drops 2 Publications After Mailing Costs Increase By Holly Hall Consumer Reports will soon stop publishing two of its four publications, largely because postage increases that took effect Monday have made the print versions unaffordable to mail, officials said. ShopSmart magazine and the Money Adviser newsletter, which Consumer Reports…

  • Consumer Reports Ends Two Publications

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    Steve Kearney
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    Alliance Alert – Consumer Reports Announces Discontinuance of Two Publications May 29, 2015 Consumer Reports announced that it will end publication of its ShopSmart magazine and Money Adviser newsletter following the mailing of one final issue. This decision comes as the 79-year old nonprofit implements a new digital transformation strategy. The flagship Consumer Reports magazine…

  • Exigent’s Days Numbered

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    Steve Kearney
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    Exigent Surcharge’s Days Might be Numbered   On January 26, 2014, postage rates increased by an average of 6 percent. Part of that was the Consumer Price Index (CPI) cap increase of 1.696 percent, and the rest was a 4.3 percent exigent surcharge that was applied across the board. Today we mark the passing of…

  • Plant Consolidations Delayed

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    Steve Kearney
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    USPS Plant Consolidations Delayed Until 2016 May 27, 2015 The USPS shelved plans to consolidate 82 mail processing plants during 2015 in the second phase of its “network rationalization” that was supposed to save $750 million annually in addition to the $865 million savings from the 2012 phase one closing of 141 plants. This decision…

  • PMG Names Executives

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    Steve Kearney
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    PMG Names Solid Executives to Key Posts May 27, 2015 Recently, Postmaster General Megan Brennan named James Cochrane as Chief Marketing and sales Officer and Randy Miskanic as Chief Information Officer. While both are in an acting status they should be great permanent appointments. Jim Cochrane has broad experience over his 39 years at USPS…

  • Case Study: Consumer Reports

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    Steve Kearney
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    Case Study: Consumer Reports May 27, 2015 Consumer Reports began publication as a nonprofit with no advertising in 1936. It now publishes its flagship magazine plus three related newsletters: Shop Smart, On Health, and Money Adviser. Consumer Reports takes mailing very seriously as it spends over $30 million on postage annually, one third of which…

  • Troubling Pricing Signals

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    Steve Kearney
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    Troubling Pricing Signals May 27, 2015 The pricing signals that the USPS is sending to its customers are troubling and we think damaging to the future of USPS for many reasons: They are excessively large and will cause mail to leave the postal system. They greatly exceed the rate of the Consumer Price Index (CPI)…

  • Report From MTAC

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    Steve Kearney
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    Report from MTAC for Nonprofits May 27, 2015 By Dennis Kaylor, Alliance Mailers Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC) Representative and Postal Affairs Manager at Our Sunday Visitor, dkaylor@osv.com Nonprofit Validation in eDoc With the introduction of the United States Postal Service (USPS) Full Service requirements a few years ago came the promise for a new method…