The latest issue of the PostCom Bulletin is available online. Here is our wrap-up:

• The USPS this week published an advanced copy of its proposed rule that would change the processing of hard-copy postage statements accompanying commercial and permit imprint mailings at PostalOne! facilities. Under the USPS' proposal, the Postal Service would no longer complete the "USPS Use Only" section of, or round date, hard-copy postage statements (including duplicates) accompanying mailings accepted at PostalOne! facilities.
• According to Rag Content, "It appears, through default, the OIG has taken over the creative thinking of the Postal Service. Instead of looking at the problems in a new way, the USPS management goes right to cost cutting - cut workhours, cut service and cut delivery days. It continues to make mail less attractive through regulations and passing costs onto customers."
• According to the Courier, Express and Postal Observer, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) has shown an interest in the potential for a mini-rate case. The PRC has chosen to enter uncharted territory, examination of the Postal Service's financial and business plans by asking whether the Postal Service generated sufficient revenue in 2009 "to assure adequate revenues, including retained earnings, to maintain financial stability." If the PRC find the Postal Service to not be in compliance with any of the ratemaking rules included in 39 U.S.C. § 3622, can it force the USPS to file an exigent rate case to put it in compliance?
• Deadtree Edition has told its readers that "it may be time to bid farewell to the tabloid-sized American magazine. A variety of forces have been conspiring for several decades to put oversized magazines onto the endangered-species list. Now the U.S. Postal Service appears ready to put the tabloid magazine (and catalog) out of existence."
• The Courier, Express and Postal Observer want to know if a request by President Obama for a freeze on discretionary spending affects the Postal Service.
• The postal sector, a key economic "motor," will help to spur recovery in Haiti in the wake of a catastrophic earthquake earlier this month, a senior United Nations official said.
• The USPS is gearing up for handling the 2010 Census mailings, which begin in February and represent $200 million in revenue to the USPS. "When the Census Bureau next month enters the first of its six separate 2010 Census mailings," the USPS told its employees on its Lite Blue web site, "it will mark the beginning of the largest mailing effort by any agency within a 90-day period." The mailings will continue through mid-April and will also amount to the "single largest use of Intelligent Mail barcodes on any mailing to date: nearly 447 million mailpieces," the USPS said.
• USPS Clarifies UAA Mail. USPS Publishes Updated Move Update Rules. USPS reaps revenue from expanded PO Box Services. USPS testifies on sustainability progress. USPS revises treatment of undeliverable items. USPS to employees: do not obliterate barcodes. Study says customers remember companies with exceptional service. Quad Graphics to acquire Worldcolor. PRC accepts USPS' Parcel Select periodical reporting proposal. Anthrax attacks reunsolved. Nantage of postal rates.
• Updates on postal matters published in the Federal Register.
• An update on DMM Advisory notices issued by the U.S. Postal Service.
• An update on business before the Postal Regulatory Commission.
• A review of postal news from around the world.
• Postal previews

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