New Machine, Familiar Problems

A widely-redacted audit report, titled Planning and Deployment of the Matrix Regional Sorter, issued September 5 by the USPS Office of Inspector General, focused on another example of the agency’s recent shoot-ready-aim behavior. Background and findings As the OIG described the machine: “ … The MaRS is a package sorting machine designed to increase package processing capacity and efficiency while…

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PRC Opens Rulemaking About USPS Service Measurement

In an order issued July 2, the Postal Regulatory Commission opened a rulemaking to evaluate the Postal Service’s service performance measurement system. As is reported regularly in Mailers Hub News, the current system does not measure service on a significant portion of the mailstream.  In PQII/FY2024 (January-March), for example, only 63.81% of First-Class Mail (all commercial rate), 72.37% of Marketing…

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Appropriations Bill Offers “Concerns” About USPS

Congressional politicians continue to signal their displeasure over aspects of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 10 Year Plan insofar as it impacts processing facilities. The latest example is the statement of the House Committee on Appropriations contained in its report on the Financial Services And General Government Appropriations Bill, 2025, approved by the committee on June 13.  Some were local issues…

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Congressional Letter Comments on PRC Rulemaking

For someone who rejects outside involvement in how he conducts business, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has, through his policies and attitudes, managed to attract the very kind of external oversight he dislikes. Another letter The latest example is a May 23 letter to the Postal Regulatory Commission from four members of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability: Jamie Raskin…

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PRC Approves July Rate Increase on Market Dominant Products

To no-one’s surprise, the Postal Regulatory Commission approved the Postal Service’s April 9 request to raise prices on its market-dominant classes of mail. In its May 30 decision, the PRC stated The Commission concludes that the planned price adjustments are consistent with the regulations of 39 CFR part 3030 and applicable Commission directives and orders.  The planned price adjustments are…

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DeJoy Concedes to Slowing Network Changes

After years of compliant support for Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 10-Year Plan, the growing outcry over decreasing service performance seems to have inspired a member of the Postal Service’s Board of Governors to offer a different opinion.  Outsiders will never know whether that was a bold departure from the usual stilted consonance or a scripted preface to later events, but…

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USPS Files for Rate Increase

On Tuesday, April 9, 2024, the USPS filed its Notice of Market-Dominant Price Change with the PRC. As predicted in the March 25 issue of Mailers Hub News (login required), the Postal Service is seeking the maximum possible increase the rate authority will allow. As stated in the filing, “The Postal Service has available approximately 7.8 percentage points of pricing…

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Key Senator Asks for Details of Network Changes

As regular readers know, the Postal Service’s ongoing measures to implement elements of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 10-Year Plan seldom are revealed directly to ratepayers or commercial mail producers. Rather, because of contractual obligations, information about facility changes and other matters having a potential impact on unionized employees is presented to the labor groups.  In turn, that information is often…

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Legislators Express Concerns Over Price Increases

Ratepayers and commercial mail producers have long expressed concern over the negative effects of the aggressive price increases being pursued by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and his supporters on the Board of Governors. If one recent development is any indication, these concerns may finally be motivating similar expressions of concern by legislators. Familiar concerns As reported September 9 by Keep…

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