Author: Steve Kearney
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January 21, 2015: Mailer Notes
FSS pricing is the main area of uncertainty in 1.966% proposed price increase according to the Quad Graphics blog Senate Democrats are trying to tie a hold on postal cost cuts to the Keystone XL bill Reflecting changes in leadership, USPS pulled an RFP for a PR provider The Chaffetz-led House Oversight Committee plans civil…
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Postal Service Files 1.966% CPI-capped Rate Increase for April 26, 2015 Implementation
January 21, 2015 The Postal Service decided to take a safer, bird-in-the-hand decision to file its latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase right before the close of business on Thursday, January 15. The timing is interesting because the next morning at 8:30 am another monthly CPI number was released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics…
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Alliance Alert: New CPI Cap Price Increase of 1.966% Coming April 26, 2015
January 15, 2015 The Postal Service announced a filing at the Postal Regulatory Commission today for a 1.966% price increase using its full authority accumulated under the CPI cap for implementation April 26, 2015. They mentioned that they are proposing above average increases for “under-water” products. These include Standard Mail Flats and Periodicals, both of…
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USPS Must Provide Notice–PRC
USPS Will Have To Provide Notice, Rate Estimates By Mark Hrywna – The Nonprofit Times – January 13, 2015 The United States Postal Service (USPS) will have to give 45 days notice before it rolls back a year-old exigent surcharge and provide bi-weekly estimates in the final three months of the temporary 4.3-percent rate. The…
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January 8, 2015: Mailer Notes
Commentary on the need for more postal reform in 2015 Is this the way to start off a productive bipartisan session of Congress? Coverage of Pat Donahoe’s speech this week Changes are coming to House oversight of the Postal Service Donahoe blames customers and employees for “myopia” More on progress being blocked by those who…
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Food For Thought
January 8, 2015 Happy New Year, everyone! As 2015 dawns we continue to wait for the US Court of Appeals to make public its ruling on the exigent rate case. What’s at stake? Well, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) ruled a little over a year ago that the Postal Service (USPS) should be allowed to…
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December 23, 2014: Mailer Notes
Our sponsor Joe Schick at Quad Graphics nails the outlook and gives great advice for the holidays Sen. Carper continues to advocate for Postal Board nominees Time and People cut their ad guarantees Postal union continues to fight much-needed cost reduction efforts by Postal management Alliance member Smithsonian really relies on mail, even to receive…
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PRC Reports Separate Price Cap and Unused Authority
December 23, 2015 USPS Will Most Likely Combine the Two in Their Next Price Change The chart above shows how the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) reports the Consumer Price Index (CPI) cap for the latest 12 months of inflation in the purple bar separately from the “Interim Unused Rate Adjustment Authority” in the orange bar.…
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Uncertainty about Postal Pricing Continues
December 23, 2015 Possible Declining CPI Cap Could Drive Timing Court Decision Looms In our previous report we noted that it might have slipped out that Postal Service staff had begun preparing a CPI-capped rate increase for April 26, 2015. Following their usual practice the USPS would announce such an increase 90 days in advance, or…
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Alliance Alert: New CPI Cap on Postage Increase=1.965%
December 17, 2014 Based on the November CPI figure (-0.3% released this morning, the biggest decline since December 2008), the Postal Service’s rate adjustment authority (now reflecting 15 months of CPI) is 1.965%. That’s up from 1.857% last month. You might ask why the postal cap increased in a month that the CPI decreased. While…