Dead Tree Edition wants to know: "The Postal Service claimed once again last week that it loses money on Standard flats mail, just five days after kicking off a huge discount program on - guess what? - Standard flats mail. The claim that Standard flats is "under water" was repeated in the USPS's request for "exigent" rate increases: "To fully close the coverage gap, Standard Mail Flats prices would need to increase by 16 percent," wrote James M. Kiefer, a USPS pricing economist, in a statement submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission. The discounts - up to 30% for some pieces sent by large mailers - are part of the second annual Summer Sale on Standard mail. The sale's discounts are the same for Standard flats -- mostly catalogs and retail circulars that are not in carrier-route bundles -- as for "profitable" categories like Standard letters. The Postal Service decided to take "a cautious approach" and only increase Standard flats rates by 5.1%, Kiefer said, because "increasing postage prices too much at this vulnerable point could force catalog mailers to cut their customer lists." Some mailers in the category (especially low-volume mailers of lightweight pieces), however, would get rate hikes rivaling the 8.0% average for Periodicals. In any case, how can the Postal Service claim on one hand that rates for Standard flats should be raised at least 16% while on the other hand justifying temporary discounts of up to 30% on that same type of mail?" Read the full post here.
Thanks, postcom.org!
Thanks, postcom.org!
