Category: Alliance Report
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Expect a Standard CPI Rate Increase January 26, 2020
July 30, 2019 We expect the Postal Service to announce proposed rate increases before October 10, to go into effect on January 26, 2020. We project the increases will average a little over 2 percent for each class of mail (First-Class, Marketing, Periodicals). The CPI cap will be finalized with the September 12 release by…
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Pricing Wisdom vs. Pricing Freedom
July 30, 2019 Recently, we posted on LinkedIn an editorial titled “Reforming the Postal Service” published by The Washington Times on July 28 which you can read here. While the editorial’s main point is that USPS needs to retain the price advantage of its parcel deliveries, we think the same point also applies to its…
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Defining the USPS Universal Service Obligation
July 30, 2019 It is de rigueur these days to bring up the Postal Service’s Universal Service Obligation and its cost. The most accurate USO definition is the cost of everything USPS does now that it would not do in a competitive, non-monopoly environment. The USO covers the “public goods” the postal system creates and…
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Alliance Notes
July 30, 2019 July 16 – Government Executive – Would-Be Postal Regulators Pledge to Hold Mailing Agency More Accountable July 17 – Federal News Network – Postal regulation nominees: USPS faces ‘very real threat’ to long-term viability July 22 – Barron’s – Why FedEx and UPS Could Benefit From the Post Office’s Pension Problem July…
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Expecting a USPS “Ten-Year Plan” Soon
July 16, 2019 The Postal Service has been promising a new “ten-year plan.” Some have called it a “strategic plan” or a “business plan.” We think it will be more of a political document, designed to prompt Congress to act on postal reform legislation that USPS has been pursuing for about ten years. In fact,…
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Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers Participates in Bridge Conference
July 16, 2019 For the third year in a row, the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers participated in the Bridge to Integrated Marketing & Fundraising Conference. We really enjoyed talking with all the folks who stopped by our booth that was staffed by board members Jerry Mathis from ALSAC/St. Jude, Tracey Burgoon from Disabled American Veterans,…
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Alliance Notes
July 16, 2019 June 26, 2019 – NALC – NALC, USPS formally open 2019 bargaining talks June 27, 2019 – Council on Foreign Relations – Solving the Identity-Protection Problem by Bringing the Post Office Into the Digital Age June 28, 2019 – Washington Monthly – How Post Offices Can Beat Payday Lenders June 28, 2019…
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Why Are USPS Costs Outpacing Its Revenues?
June 5, 2019 (Hint: It’s Not a Business) The main financial problem for the Postal Service is that its costs are increasing faster than its revenues. Of course, costs outrunning revenues means business failure. Through April 2019, USPS operating costs are up 6 percent, while revenues have grown 1.7 percent. Allowed to continue, that is…
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USPS Holding Less Cash, but has Improved Liquidity
June 5, 2019 The USPS Form 10-Q for the period ending March 31, 2019 was submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission on May 9. One of the interesting things it documents is cash and cash equivalents of $8.1 billion on March 31. This might have alarmed some because it’s down from $10.1 billion on September…
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Second Nominee for PRC
June 5, 2019 Ashley Poling will be nominated to be a Postal Regulatory Commission by President Trump. She will join Ann Fisher, Director of the PRC Office of Public Affairs & Government Relations, as the candidates to replace outgoing Commissioners Tony Hammond and Nanci Langley, whose holdover years end in October and November. The good…