The Postal Service’s quarterly financial and service performance numbers likely won’t be published until mid-December, but odds are they’ll be accompanied by carefully crafted pronouncements asserting that the 10-Year Plan is still working just fine. That there will be a significant financial loss – again – will be explained away as caused by uncontrollable factors that would be remedied if…
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Despite the Postal Service’s efforts to convince commercial mailers and the public otherwise, the agency’s declining service performance has again been verified. In a September report entitled Cost-Cutting Initiatives and Other Factors Have Contributed to Declining Service Performance, the US Government Accountability Office provided further evidence that the Postal Service’s misguided pursuit of “efficiency,” a key to former postmaster general…
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The Executive Order issued last March 31 has placed the Postal Service in an exceptional no-win situation. Generally, the instructions in that order mandated that the agency perform certain functions, and establish and enforce related processes, to block ineligible individuals from voting by mail. The USPS was also told to produce mailing standards for the envelopes used to send and…
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In an order issued August 21, the Postal Regulatory Commission denied a July 16 Postal Service motion to “use a modified calculation of the available density rate authority.” The agency’s purpose was to “transition to a January rate change cycle in 2027 in a financially responsible manner.” As the commission noted, “The practical effect of the Postal Service’s Motion is…
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Say what you will about former postmaster general Louis DeJoy’s accomplishments, but one thing he did was ensure his policies lived on after he was out of office. Even though DeJoy has been gone for over a year, his 10-Year Plan survives. Members of Congress, as well as most of the mailing community, have noted its wholesale failure to restore…
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After the House Subcommittee on Government Operations heard from the Postal Regulatory Commission on June 4, and the Senate Homeland and Governmental Affairs reviewed two nominees to be governors of the Postal Service on June 17, the postal trifecta was completed when Postmaster General David Steiner appeared before the Senate committee on June 24. Statements Neither the PMG’s opening remarks…
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On June 4, the four current members of the Postal Regulatory Commission testified before the House Subcommittee on Government Operations. Though the hearing was captioned simply as a hearing with the commissioners, its primary purpose was to learn their perspective on the state of the Postal Service and related issues. In both their written testimony and responses to questions from…
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In a 288-page order issued May 27, the Postal Regulatory Commission approved as filed the prices for market-dominant products that were proposed by the Postal Service on April 9. The commission also approved all proposed incentives and promotions and related classification changes as filed, except for the proposed new NCOA+ service. Charts reflecting the approved rates are at the end…
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As an organization established to serve commercial mail producers, we’re sometimes asked why we’re concerned about the Postal Service’s Regional Transportation Optimization program, which primarily impacts retail customers. Our answer is simple: RTO violates the fundamental principle of universal service. By arbitrarily differentiating between those customers within a certain distance from a regional processing and distribution center and those farther…
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On March 2, the White House sent to the US Senate three nominations to fill vacant positions on the Postal Service’s Board of Governors. No details about the nominees’ education, professional experience, or qualifications were included with the nominations, so any such information had to be gleaned from internet searches. The recent nominees join a fourth whose name was originally…
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