Category: Alliance Report

Should the USPS be able to adjust to lower volumes?–March 16, 2016 The debate about whether the rate rollback is a good or bad thing for the future of the USPS is related to the larger debate over whether USPS can adjust to delivering “only” 150 billion pieces of mail in 2016 and beyond without…

Postage rates to return to inflation cap on April 10 March 2, 2016 As we expected, on February 25, the Postal Service gave notice to the Postal Regulatory Commission that it would remove the temporary exigent surcharge of 4.3 percent on April 10. The 45 days’ notice was required by the PRC to presage when…

Optimism–March 2, 2016 Some of our favorite quotes about optimism: “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” Helen Keller “Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.” Colin Powell “Pessimism leads to weakness, optimism to power.” William James “Optimism means better than reality; pessimism means worse than reality.…

USPS continues to increase operating profits in January–March 2, 2016 The Postal Service reported that its operating profit for Fiscal year 2016 increased by $293 million in January, the fourth month of the year. This brings the total operating profit to $1.599 billion, which is $639 million or 67 percent higher than the USPS budget…

  Alliance notes–March, 2, 2016 The NonProfit Times: Postal Rates To Drop 4.3% In April Direct Marketing News: On April 10, Bid Farewell to Exigency! Linn’s Stamp News: Cost of first-class letter to drop to 47¢ effective April 10 Dead Tree Edition: Hell Will Freeze Over on April 10 RR Donnelley: Exigent Rollback Set to…

February 17, 2016 This chart shows Nonprofit Standard Mail volumes for the last ten years, Fiscal Years 2006-2015. There are three distinct phases.   The first three years, FY 2006-2008, show an average of 14.738 billion pieces with an increasing trend. As the impact of the 2007-2009 recession took hold, nonprofits adjusted to a “new…

February 17, 2016 We expect that the Postal Service will announce the date of the exigent surcharge removal this week or next. Through Valentine’s Day, USPS exigent surcharge revenue was $4.347 billion. The cap is $4.634 billion, leaving $287 million left to collect. In the first half of its second quarter, the Postal Service collected…

February 17, 2016 Further solidifying its march back to strong finances, USPS made an operating profit of $1.3 billion in the three months ending December 31, 2015. The USPS delivered 42 billion pieces of mail during the quarter. It ended the quarter with $7.3 billion in cash and cash equivalents.

February 17, 2016 The New York Times: E-Commerce: Convenience Built on a Mountain of Cardboard Linn’s Stamp News: Obama 2017 budget plan for U.S. Postal Service likely dead on arrival The Motley Fool: Is This the Real Reason Why Amazon.com Wants Its Own Delivery Service? The Washington Post: Why USPS doesn’t celebrate rare net profit;…

February 3, 2016 A January 21 hearing held by the Senate oversight committee left the impression that there is consensus support among customers of the Postal Service in favor of the iPost postal reform bill introduced by Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) on September 17, 2015. Indeed, Postmaster General Megan Brennan emphasized consensus in her testimony:…