Postal Governors Send Rate Case Back to PRC, Now What?

Washington--Having rejected the Postal Rate Commission's (PRC) first decision on the rate case that led to the Jan. 7 postal rate hike, the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors (BOG), rejected the PRC's rewrite of the case on March 5, requesting that the PRC reconsider its findings. In a statement, BOG chairman Robert Rider said that the revised rates the PRC recommended in its revisions don't "meet the statutory policy of break-even and jeopardize the Postal Service's financial situation" for the next few years.

In its initial recommendation in November, the PRC recommended only a 4.6% postage increase on average, rather than the 6% the USPS sought initially. When it issued its revised recommendation on Feb. 9, the PRC offered only moderate changes. The PRC didn't release a statement on the BOG rejection.