On Tuesday, April 9, 2024, the USPS filed its Notice of Market-Dominant Price Change with the PRC. As predicted in the March 25 issue of Mailers Hub News (login required), the Postal Service is seeking the maximum possible increase the rate authority will allow. As stated in the filing, “The Postal Service has available approximately 7.8 percentage points of pricing…
Read More
On March 22, the Postal Regulatory Commission approved a Postal Service proposal, filed November 22, 2023, to add a new Zone 10 to the prices for Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, and USPS Ground Advantage. The USPS had stated in its filing that, if approved, the new Zone 10 prices would be effective at a future date, but no sooner…
Read More
Every year in its annual report, the Postal Regulatory Commission provides its estimate of the value of the Postal Service’s monopolies over the delivery of some hard-copy mail and access to the mailbox. At the same time, the PRC estimates the cost to the USPS for its Universal Service Obligation. Both figures are for the prior full fiscal year. On…
Read More
Usually, when the Postal Regulatory Commission allows the Postal Service to conduct a test of a potential new product or service, there’s a finite arc of related events, such as a proposal by the USPS, review by the PRC, and establishment of a test with reporting requirements and specific start and end dates. Over the test period, results are reported…
Read More
As the saying goes, “Success has many parents while failure is an orphan.” To a degree, this may apply to the stillborn negotiated service agreement with Publishers Clearing House that the Postal Service had filed last August 11. That filing was different from other NSAs in that it was for market-dominant mail, not competitive products. As the USPS stated in…
Read More
It’s understandable that there should be a natural tension between a regulator and the regulated, and that’s always been the case between the Postal Regulatory Commission and the Postal Service. Even so, there would be periodic briefings and discussions, and the relationship was civil. However, under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, that relationship, at least from the Postal Service’s side, has…
Read More
In an August 14 filing with the Postal Regulatory Commission, the Greeting Card Association moved for the issuance of an official information request as part of the Public Inquiry on Changes Associated with the Delivering For America Plan (Docket No. PI2023-4). Motion and opposition The GCA explained the reasons for its motion: “The DfA plan depends pervasively on certain projections.…
Read More
This article and more can be found in the August 28, 2023 issue of Mailers Hub News Late on Friday, August 11, the Postal Service submitted a request to the Postal Regulatory Commission seeking approval for a negotiated service agreement with Publishers Clearing House. Though the USPS files NSA requests many times a week, the August 11 filing was different…
Read More
Join us as industry expert Leo Raymond and USPS VP, Pricing and Costing, Sharon Owens walk us through the proposed rate changes presented to the PRC. This marks the sixth Rate Case since 2021 – no longer are the rates themselves the only issue, but the issues arising from trying to implement the changes industry-wide in half the time. There…
Read More
As reported on June 15 by Government Executive, a bill passed by the House of Representatives could reverse precedent and restrict a government agency’s latitude in interpreting and applying the statutes it’s charged with implementing. As stated in the article, “The Separation of Powers Restoration Act (HR 288) would allow federal courts to review all aspects of a law’s implementation…
Read More