Category: Alerts

Alliance Alert–April 16, 2015 The Postal Service today announced that, in response to concerns raised by the Alliance, it has reduced the large price increases it had previously proposed for light weight, low advertising magazines, primarily published and mailed by nonprofits. Nonprofit mailers are urged to contact their mail service providers for a recalculation of…

Blending Rates Increase with Decrease Looks Increasingly Likely When the United States Postal Service (USPS) notified the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) that it will delay all of the 2015 Consumer Price Index (CPI) postage rate increases until further notice, it said that the notice will be announced “in the coming weeks.” There are very good…

USPS announced late today that it will delay all rate changes scheduled for April 26, approved and not approved. It will set a new date when it files the corrections the PRC requires for Standard and Periodicals. USPS statement: The Postal Service Governors decided today to delay the implementation of new market-dominant and competitive rates…

April 26 Implementation Now Impossible The Postal Regulatory Commission today remanded the new rates submitted by the USPS just last Thursday, March 12. The April 26, 2015 implementation planned by the Postal Service will now not be met because we are now inside the 45 days notice required by law. The PRC news release: 3/18/2015…

Alliance Alert–Return to Sender March 6, 2015 Citing numerous errors, incomplete information, and failures to comply with the law, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) today remanded the current CPI-cap rate case back to the Postal Service for Periodicals, Standard Mail and Package Services. The full order can be read here. The PRC gave the USPS…

February 6, 2015 USPS Quarter One Fiscal Year 2015 Results Controllable Net Income: $1.124 Billion Postal Cash Nearly Doubles to $7 Billion Revenue up 4.3% Standard Mail Volume up 3.5% Package Volume up 12.8% First Class Volume Down 1.1% You probably will read that the Postal Service reported a $754 million loss for the first…

January 28, 2015 Today, the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers asked the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to pose questions to the United States Postal Service (USPS) regarding “several apparent anomalies in the prices proposed by the Postal Service for Nonprofit Standard Mail.” One set of questions is related to the law that requires the average revenue…

The 2006 legislation requires the Commission to issue a report in 2017 on whether the system of rate regulation adopted under the law should be modified or replaced. The regulatory review is likely to be highly controversial. ANM and other mailers believe that the scope of the Commission’s authority is limited to filling the gaps…

Legislation passed by Congress in 2006 normally limits rate increases on captive mail products to the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (“CPI”). This restriction, commonly known as the CPI cap, is the primary safeguard for captive mailers from abuse of the Postal Service’s pricing power. The law has an exception-informally…