Five-Day Delivery 
With its costs rising and mail volume falling, the U.S. Postal Service in recent years has been trying to get Congress to allow it to cut mail delivery from six days to five days a week. The effort picked up momentum in September 2011: President Obama endorsed a push for five-day delivery by eliminating Saturday mail, among other cost-saving measures for the USPS, and a House of Representatives subcommittee approved legislation to end Saturday delivery.
Senate Postal Bill Passes, Brings Mixed Reaction
The U.S. Senate passed S. 1789 by a 62-37 vote yesterday, but the USPS said the bill, which is supposed to enable the U.S. Postal Service to return to financial viability, does nothing to help the agency....
Merchants Sound Off on Impact of USPS 5-Day Delivery
National Association of Letter Carriers president Fredric V. Rolando said that 5-day mail delivery would “jeopardize the Postal Service’s ability to capitalize on the growing business of delivering the goods that people order online. Increasingly, the Postal Service is providing last-mile delivery of those packages for UPS and FedEx, because its universal network allows it to do so more efficiently."...
Can USPS Eliminate $5.5B Annual Prefunding Retiree Obligation?
The chief human resources officer and executive vice president of the U.S. Postal Service says a new health-care plan for postal workers can eliminate the federal egancy's annual $5.5 billion prefunding of retiree health benefits. Find out how this can happen. ...
It’s Imperative for USPS to Meet Delivery Standards
In light of the U.S. Postal Service’s filing with the Postal Regulatory Commission this week and a proposed change in standards governing First-Class Mail, it’s now imperative that the USPS meets the delivery standards upon which Americans will now plan their mailings....
Postal Pain Continues With First-Class Mail Changes
Don Landis, vice president of postal affairs for catalog printer Arandell Corp., has seen it all in the mailing industry. At least until now. With the U.S. Postal Service filing a change in service standards to combat an oversized network and alter how First-Class Mail is delivered, Landis foresees a potentially chaotic future for the USPS...
Opinion: Ben Franklin Tells Congress to Give USPS What It Wants
Ben Franklin has had enough. Today in Multichannel Merchant he speaks for the first time about the current situation facing the financially U.S. Postal Service and tells Congress to do the right thing now in the best interests of our country...
Numbers Deceiving In UPS Rate Hikes
UPS released its rate increases for 2012, including a net increase of 4.9% for UPS Ground packages and a net increase of 4.9% on all UPS Air services and U.S.-origin international shipments...
Donahoe Says Forget Exigent Case; It’s CPI
Despite the U.S. Postal Service’s decision to pursue an exigent rate increase, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said during a Nov. 10 webinar that the 2012 rate increase will be according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) ...
Will Bipartisan Senate Bill Save The U.S. Postal Service?
A bipartisan Senate bill titled, “21st Century Postal Service Act of 2011,” was unveiled today and would make massive changes aimed at revitalizing the U.S. Postal Service’s woeful financial status and postponing implementation of 5-day mail delivery at least two years...
Five Day Delivery FAQs
Mailers have plenty of questions about five-day postal delivery; here are some answers to just a few...
5-Day Delivery Bill Not Likely to Pass This Year
Is it possible that Congress will enact a bill this year that would eliminate Saturday mail delivery? According to several postal experts, there are two chances for that occurring in 2011: slim and none....
House Panel Approves Bill For Five-Day Postal Delivery
A House of Representatives subcommittee approved legislation Wednesday to end Saturday mail delivery. ...
Marketers and Lobbyists Weigh In on USPS Crisis
What does a potential USPS shutdown mean for multichannel merchants that rely on the catalog channel? Multichannel Merchant senior writers Tim Parry and Jim Tierney went to the NEMOA Fall Conference in Quincy, MA on Sept. 21 and asked that question to five retail industry leaders....
Obama’s Proposals Might Not Save USPS
President Obama is trying to lend a helping hand to the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service. But his proposals revealed this week aren’t nearly enough to save the USPS, according to industry experts....
PMG Paints Doomsday Postal Picture for Senate Panel
If Congress does not intervene in the form of legislation by Sept. 30 – the end of the USPS’s fiscal year – PMG Patrick Donahoe said the Postal Service will not be able to make its retiree healthcare benefit prepayment and default on its financial obligation....
PMG: USPS Needs Congress's Help
The United States Postal Service can't begin to gain profitability without help from the federal mandates that hold it back, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe told attendees at the National Catalog Forum held June 21-22 in Washington by the American Catalog Mailers Association...
Will PRC's Opinion Help or Hurt Five-Day Delivery Prospect?
Now that the Postal Regulatory Commission has issued its advisory opinion on the U.S. Postal Service's quest for five-day mail delivery to Congress...
USPS VP: Time to Implement Five-Day Mail Delivery
With first-class mail slowly eroding away, the time is now to implement five-day delivery, according to Sam Pulcrano, vice president of sustainability for the U.S. Postal Service....
PRC Chairman Blair Addresses Five-Day Delivery Prospect
Postmaster General John E. Potter’s appeal to Congress last week to allow the U.S. Postal Service to cut back to five-day delivery has a lot of mailers—and consumers—up in arms....
Live From the ACMA Forum: So Long, Saturday Mail Delivery?
Washington--The U.S. Postal Service has reached a pivotal juncture, said Dan Blair to attendees at Thursday’s National Catalog Advocacy & Strategy Forum: “We are at a crossroads right now with volume.”...
External Resources
USPS.com: The USPS launched a Website to provide customers with the details of the proposal, which includes a special section telling business mailers how to manage a change in delivery.
Association for Postal Commerce: PostCom represents those who use or support the use of mail for Business Communication and Commerce
American Catalog Mailers Association: ACMA is an industry association advocating specifically for catalog marketers
The Direct Marketing Association: DMA is a global trade association of organizations that use and support multichannel direct marketing
