Postal Governor Vote on Rate Case Expected Next Week Mar 8, 2007 5:21 PM
, By Jim Tierney
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The U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors (BOG) won't vote this week on the recommendations of the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) regarding the pending rate
case, tentatively set for implementation on May 6. USPS spokesperson David
Partenheimer says the vote willlikely occur next week, but he is unsure of
the exact date.
On Feb. 26 the PRC released its 700-page recommendation, and the BOG had to
wait at least 10 days before taking action. During the past 10 days,
catalogers and other mailers have bombarded the USPS with letters, faxes,
and e-mails protesting the recommendations. Initial response from mailers to the
PRC's recommendations had lukewarm, due in part to the massive amount of
information to comprehend. But after trade groups and suppliers managed to
wade through the complete recommendation, they realized that, as Direct
Marketing Association president/CEO John Greco Jr. said in a release, "this
is a case where the devil really did prove to be in the details."
The PRC's price recommendations for flats, for example--the category affecting most
catalogers--is appreciably higher than the increase originally proposed by
the Postal Service, according to the DMA. For flats weighing less than 3.3
oz., the PRC is recommending an increase of roughly 20%, instead of the
originally proposed 9%-12%.
Partenheimer doesn't know exactly how many letters the BOG received. "We have received over 1,000 correspondences during the comment period," he says. "Some are
duplicates sent by multiple channels. This number is typical for a rate case comment period."
The governors will tally all the correspondence received next week, prior to its vote. That means there's still time for mailers to fax and e-mail letters protesting the increase. You can fax letters to:
The Honorable James C. Miller III
Chairman, Board of Governors
United States Postal Service
Fax: 202-268-5472
And to:
The Honorable Dan G. Blair
Chairman, Postal Regulatory Commission
Fax: 202-789-6886
You can also e-mail copies to:
Postal Chairman Miller’s secretary at wendy.a.hocking@usps.gov
Postmaster General Jack Potter at jpotter@usps.gov.
Marketing
agency Marketsmith has created a postal calculator to help direct
marketers in calculating their postal costs should the rate case be
approved. You can access it at www.marketsmithinc.com/postal_calculator.php.
