Senate Debates 21st Century Postal Service

The US Senate launched a floor debate on major postal reform proposals this week, looking into how to help the US Postal Service out of its current financial crisis. The cloture motion was passed by 74 votes to 22, turning around last month’s vote against debating the 21st Century Postal Service Act (S.1789) . Senator Joseph Lieberman, who is leading the reform measure as the Senate government affairs committee chairman, described the result as a “very strong vote” that suggested that members of the Senate across party lines understood the importance of the Postal Service and the need to avoid its bankruptcy. The Independent Senator said compromise was going to be main key to passing the legislation.

Source: Post & Parcel

Appeals Court Rules: Std Mail Flats Need to Cover Costs

The US Court of Appeals has ruled that regulators do have the power to require the US Postal Service to increase rates for its Standard Mail Flats service to cover its costs. But, the order from the US Court of Appeals for the DC has asked the Postal Regulatory Commission to go back and clarify exactly what the Postal Service must do to cover the costs of the loss-making product, which include catalogues. The ruling followed a legal challenge by USPS against an order made at the end of March 2011 for an increase in rates for Standard Mail Flats so that other mailers were not effectively subsidizing the customers of the loss-making product. The Commission has not explicitly mandated complete cost coverage for Periodicals, which is subject to special statutory limitations.

Source: US Court of Appeals / Post & Parcel

How Will USPS Network Rationalization Affect My Mail?

Modern Service Standards were first published in January 2007 in accordance with requirements of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 . The Service Standards are updated quarterly to reflect changes in the processing, transportation, and delivery network, and are officially defined as “A stated goal for service achievement for each mail class.” A Service Standard represents the level of service that the USPS strives to provide to customers. These standards are considered to be one of the primary operational goals, or benchmark against which service performance is compared in various measurement systems. The Postal Service recently developed a webpage that illustrates the service changes being proposed under the Mail Processing Network Rationalization . To view the efforts of how the changes will effort your class of mail, click here for a color-coded map showing the comparison of current and projected standards.

Source: RIBBS

GAO Issues Report on USPS Restructuring Challenges

USPS must carefully work to ensure a viable strategy to effectively size its retail network to reduce costs to match declining mail volume while maintaining access to retail services, according to a Government Accounting Office (GAO) report to Congressional requesters. The report stated it is clear that USPS cannot support its current level of services and operations from its current revenues. USPS’s ability to continue providing its current level of services is in jeopardy, and it is up to both Congress and USPS to construct solutions that will either reduce the cost of services or increase revenues from other sources. If Congress prefers to retain the current level of service and associated network, decisions will need to be made about how USPS’s costs for providing these services will be paid, including additional cost reductions or revenue sources. The report concluded with the GAO saying the USPS is in the process of responding to several retail restructuring recommendations, and they were not making any additional recommendations.

Source: GAO