PRC Makes Summer Mail Sale Official

When the U.S. Postal Service on April 21 announced tentative details of its upcoming “Summer Sale” for Standard Mailers, catalogers rejoiced in anticipation. And on June 4 the Postal Regulatory Commission unanimously approved the summer sale set to begin July 1 and run through Sept. 30.

“Seasonal sales are popular fixtures in other industries and starting today, the Postal Service can begin to test their applicability to the mail” said PRC Chairman Dan Blair in a release. “The Postal Service developed this program in response to the current economic downturn. The commission looks forward to reviewing the results of the program.”

The “Summer Sale” program will provide a 30% rebate to eligible mailers on Standard Mail letters and flats volumes above a mailer specific threshold. The program is open to larger mailers, which had a demonstrable volume of at least 1 million Standard Mail letters and flats between Oct. 1, 2007 and March 31, 2008.

The thresholds are designed to limit administrative costs while incenting increased volume sufficient to cover those costs, and make use of excess capacity in the mail system. For details of eligibility requirementsvisit: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-11321.htm.