Category: Alliance Report
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USPS Issues a New Five-Year Plan for 2020-24
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…
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Five Brushes with Disaster in the Last Five Years
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…
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Five Key Determining Factors in the Next Five Years
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…
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Takeaways from USPS FY 2019 Results
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,…
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The Inspector General Takes a Look at Postal Labor Costs
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…
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Alliance Notes
Alliance Notes December 4, 2019 Dec 4 – The Agitator – Riding the Unicorn—Fundamentals and proven basic practices, like mail, be not damned. Dec 3 – The Washington Post – Finland’s prime minister resigns over postal service dispute—Does the postal system matter in our political system, as we do have the world’s best and it…
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2020 Should be a Year of Major Postal Change
November 6, 2019 What’s Unique About 2020? Next year we should see major changes in the postal landscape. There are at least eight reasons for this: A new Postmaster General. 5 new U.S. Postal Service Governors. 3 new Postal Regulatory Commissioners. A new House Oversight Chair. A new PRC 10-year rate review proposal. Maybe new…
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Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers Notes
November 6, 2019 Nov 5 – The Chronicle of Philanthropy – Can the Boom Times Last? Nov 5 – Engadget – CVS starts delivering prescriptions to homes via UPS drones Nov 5 – The Salt Lake Tribune – In historic shift, The Salt Lake Tribune gets IRS approval to become a nonprofit Nov 1 –…
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The ‘First Do No Harm’ Rate Increase for 2020
October 22, 2019 – USPS rate cases should conform to the concept attributed to the Hippocratic Oath: “First do no harm.” Or as the AD 245 version said: “I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm.” In other words, the primary goal of every postal rate case should be to do the least harm…
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Postmaster General Retirement not a Surprise, as Governors Want Their Own Person
October 22, 2019 – Some have called it surprising, but we were not taken off guard when Postmaster General (PMG) Megan Brennan announced she will retire at the end of January. We were not surprised because the Postal Service has five newly minted Governors, all appointed by President Trump. (Not “most” as reported by some…