Washington—How did the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors (BOG) manage to propose a rate case yesterday amid the chaos of the plane highjackings and attacks? The USPS’s monthly meeting, which was held Monday and yesterday at USPS headquarters in L’Enfant Plaza here, was about three-quarters complete when attendees spotted the nearby Pentagon ablaze. Shortly thereafter, the meeting was abruptly halted, and all involved evacuated L’Enfant Plaza.
But the postal rate case had been one of the first items on the BOG’s agenda, and the rate filing became official once the BOG voted in favor of it early in the meeting. “After several people in attendance saw out the window that the Pentagon was on fire, it only took a minute before the Postal Inspection Service jumped in and adjourned the meeting,” says USPS spokesperson Greg Frey, who was at the meeting. “The only matters the BOG hadn’t voted on were matters involving the lease renewals of Priority Mail processing centers and the October meeting’s agenda.”
(For more on the rate case, see “USPS Prosposes 8.7% Rate Hike” below.)