Anyone who’s been in or around the Postal Service long enough begins to see annual cycles in service, volume and revenue, and official pronouncements for any and all of it. At this time of year, the agency usually is finishing its ramp-up to the holiday shipping season. This year, the mid-term elections are also underway, meaning the usual high level…
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In a memorandum opinion issued October 6 by the US District Court for the District of Columbia, Judge Emmet Sullivan granted in part and denied in part motions related to a case that originated during the 2020 election season. Background Following the appointment of Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General in mid-2020, the politically charged pre-election period led to suspicions that…
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A proposed rule published by the Postal Regulatory Commission in the September 30 Federal Register seeks to enhance the information provided by the Postal Service’s periodic reports about service performance. Background In an earlier advance notice of proposed rulemaking, published in the May 2 Federal Register, the PRC proposed “… revisions to existing annual and periodic service performance reporting requirements for the Postal Service’s market-dominant…
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As was reported in the previous issue of Mailers Hub News, a comment by the Postmaster General about reducing the postal workforce brought a quick and confrontational response from Mark Dimondstein, president of the ever-adversarial American Postal Workers Union. However, comments emanating from the union’s recent convention suggest that a challenger to Dimondstein’s re-election may think he’s not been aggressive enough in dealing…
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Documents provided by the Postal Service to its labor groups detail the initial moves to implement the network redesign contained in the Postmaster General’s 10-year Plan. Generally, the redesign would impact the mail processing, transportation, and delivery infrastructure; similarly, sweeping changes are not anticipated for retail facilities. SDCs The focus of the documents is the consolidation in specific areas of…
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This article was produced exclusively for Mailers Hub by Martin I. Eisenstein and Jamie Szal of Brann & Isaacson. Brann & Isaacson is a boutique law firm that represents large and small online and multichannel companies, printers, commercial mail producers, and IT service providers located across the country. The firm advises companies of all sizes, including many in the Internet…
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Persons who’ve heard Postmaster General Louis DeJoy speak more than once note that he tends to use the same format every time: Along the way, keep referring to (1) anyone who isn’t dogmatically committed to the Plan as “resistance” and “noise,” (2) the PAEA’s ratesetting system as “defective,” and (3) the Postal Service’s trucks as always carrying a lot of…
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It’s hardly news that hard-copy mail volume is shrinking – it has been for fifteen years as the uptake of electronic messaging has accelerated. However, the diversion to electronic media that may work in some applications – personal emails and texts in place of written letters and cards – doesn’t mean all messages translate well. Many individuals still prefer paper bills and…
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The concept of balance is present in many philosophies, operations, and financial considerations, and requires that competing factors and forces be in equilibrium for balance to be achieved. The analogy can be applied to the Postal Service which, financially, has been off balance for many years. The agency was debt-free at the end of fiscal 2005, i.e. until the Postal Accountability…
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In the latest example of how Postmaster General Louis DeJoy defines “prudent and judicious,” he won Board of Governors support to seek the second price increase on market-dominant products in less than a year. As in the prior rate hike, effective last August 29, DeJoy opted to use nearly all available rate authority. If approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission,…
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