Perception vs Reality

Very few – if any – regular readers of Mailers Hub News may include in their daily routine monitoring the Federal Register or the docket postings on the Postal Regulatory Commission’s website.  Those who do, however, likely have noticed the dozens – hundreds – of Postal Service negotiated service agreements that have been filed and approved in recent months. Paperwork…

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USPS Reports $9.5 Billion Loss for Fiscal 2024

At the November 14 meeting of its Board of Governors, the Postal Service reported a loss of $9.5 billion for its 2024 fiscal year (October 1, 2023, through September 30, 2024).  That amount is $3 billion larger than the loss reported for fiscal 2023, far different from the projected $1.7 billion surplus anticipated in Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 10-Year Plan.…

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USPS Cancels Planned January Price Increase

In an unexpected announcement late Friday, September 20, the Postal Service announced that it will not be increasing prices for market-dominant products next January as had been forecast.  In its press release and concurrent Industry Alert, the agency stated: “A recommendation by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy not to raise prices in January 2025 for Market Dominant products, which includes First-Class…

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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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