USPS Makes Rate Case Official

Washington—The U.S. Postal Service on Sept. 24 formally filed for an across-the-board rate increase with the Postal Rate Commission (PRC). The USPS Board of Governors had announced the imminent filing on Sept. 11, only moments before that day’s terrorist attacks.

When asked whether the USPS had reconsidered the rate filing in response to the now-plunging economy, USPS chief marketing officer Anita Bizzotto said in a press conference, "Our financial situation isn’t good as well. We think it’s important to correct that situation as we go forward. We need to continue to make sure we have enough money to run the Postal Service, and unfortunately, the way we do that is to raise rates."

The USPS did do at least one thing differently in its rate filing, which calls for an average increase of 7.3% for bulk-mailed catalogs: It has requested that the PRC give the case "expedited consideration." Ordinarily, rate cases take 10 months to complete. But if the PRC agrees to expedite this case—something it did only once, in 1994, when it turned around a rate case several months early—the USPS could of course implement the rates sooner than previously anticipated.

"The idea is to give the BOG maximum theoretical flexibility," said Dan Foucheaux, the USPS’s chief counsel, rates and classifications. "Nobody has any implementation date in mind now. It depends on how the BOG determine the financial situation. They want as much lead time as possible."

For information on rates of interest to you, click on these links to the USPS Website:

Standard Mail

Parcel Post/Parcel Select

Priority Mail