Category: Alliance Report

March 9, 2020 On March 4, we filed reply comments in the Statutory Review of the System for Regulating Rates and Classes for Market Dominant Products.  Many focus on the PRC reduction of the review to one of many objectives: “(5) assure adequate revenues, including retained earnings, to maintain financial stability.”  Our 30 pages are…

March 9, 2020 The one thing we can count on is continued uncertainty.  The Postal Regulatory Commission will deliberate in private for an unknown period of time.  The five Commissioners will read hundreds of pages submitted by customers, unions, business partners, suppliers, and employee organizations.  They will receive reports from and confer with their staff…

February 13, 2020 On February 3, 2020, the Alliance filed our initial comments in response to Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) Order No. 5337.  This was the Commission’s December 5, 2019 revised proposal to “bust the price cap” and grant the Postal Service significant above-inflation pricing authority over market-dominant mail products.  We were joined by eight…

February 13, 2020 Proponents of the new PRC proposal take some solace in the belief that price increases of this size will not cause a massive downward spiral in mail volume.  They say this without documented evidence.  There is no historical data with which to develop accurate price elasticity models for rate increases of the…

February 13, 2010 As we explain in our comments on the Postal Regulatory Commission to allow surcharges of 17 percent to 29 percent over inflation for five years, even the contemplation of such rate increases beyond any previous experience is likely to prompt mailers to make strategic decisions to leave the mail: The Postal Service…

USPS Issues a New Five-Year Plan for 2020-24 For quite a while we have anticipated a new plan by the Postal Service.  It was finally released this week without fanfare and covering five years rather than the ten previously promised.  The gradual bringing on board of five new Governors has delayed the release as they…

 December 31, 2019     USPS attempt to make the exigent surcharge permanent   From January 2014 to April 2016, the U.S. Postal Service collected an extra 4.3 percent above inflation on all postage rates.  The surcharge was granted by the Postal Regulatory Commission under the exigency section of postal law in order to relieve…

 December 31, 2019   The new USPS Governors   After many months of either no or very few USPS Governors, we now have five of the nine slots filled with very qualified individuals.  These men were appointed by the current administration and they have extensive relevant experience in government, unions, investment banking, business, and nonprofit…

December 4, 2019  Operating revenue increased by over half a billion. The $514 million increase to $71.1 billion in the agency’s operating revenue is somewhat impressive, given all the gloomy news about the Postal Service.  An increase of $1.3 billion in the package segment offset losses in the mail monopoly part that continued its long,…

December 4, 2019 The USPS Office of Inspector General released a 44-page white paper on December 2 titled, “A Closer Look at Postal Labor Costs.”  With labor costing $57 billion or 76 percent of all costs, a closer look is very important.  The OIG found that in the ten years 2009-2018, USPS did a good…