Category: Alliance Report

USPS faces tough labor contract decisions–March 16,2016 The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) recently opened negotiations with USPS leadership for a new labor contract to replace one that expires on May 20. NALC president Fredric Rolando emphasized in his opening remarks his optimistic outlook for the Postal Service: Once the recession ended, the Postal…

Postal rates returning to inflation cap on April 10–March 16, 2016 Our first Alliance Report of this year led with: Ten reasons to be optimistic about USPS in 2016. It was one of our most widely-read articles in some time. Reason #5 was: “This spring, USPS should get a first-ever volume boost from a general…

Alliance notes–March 16, 2016 The Washington Post: Nothing is forever, folks: A fail-safe investment that isn’t Postal Regulatory Commission: The Postal Service estimates that it has collected $4.513 billion in cumulative surcharge revenue Bozeman Daily Chronicle: County tries direct mail recruitment for election judges Tahlequah Daily Press: USPS offering its 2 cents’ worth in stamp…

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…