An annual February ritual is the use of a ground-dwelling rodent to forecast the chances for an end to winter weather. Looking ahead and hoping for an improvement – to the weather or any other condi

Late in every year, it’s inevitable that people ask about the outlook for the following year. To answer any such forward-looking question, though, it’s always necessary to behind us and...

That the Postal Service is seeking higher rates – significantly higher rates – is no longer breaking news. Nonetheless, some of what lies behind

There was a commercial for Toyota that aired several years ago that had the tag line, “You asked for it, you got it.” In this case, given that the Postal Service finally issued its 10-year

Back in 2014, the Postal Service was developing something called Real Mail Notification as part of its continuing effort to keep hard-copy mail relevant in an increasingly electronic world. A

Over the past few months, and especially over the recent holiday season, there were many occasions on which a postal customer – a representative of a commercial mailer, a mailer’s client

For the Postal Service, it was one that will not be remembered fondly. The pandemic impacted USPS employees, severely suppressed the mailing activity of many businesses, and drove an unforesee

Usually, after the busy fall mailing season and the holiday rush, things return to normal for the Postal Service and its commercial mailing customers. As everyone knows, however, the cur

In today’s political climate, all of us see a constant flow of news that, depending on the outlet, is colored by the opinions of the presenter. While people can argue over “fake news,”...

It’s common in the retail world for a store to have a special promotion – signage, advertising, and reduced prices – to build sales of a given product or to drive more customers into...

Prisoners on bread and water get just the minimum to stay alive. For whatever reason, their wardens won’t simply kill them, but they won’t restore them to health, either. The current way the...

Depending on who’s telling the story, postage prices may rise by a little or a lot, or may not, because the Postal Service will go broke otherwise, or it won’t. Any ratepayer would be confus

Recently, we were asked how long it is necessary to retain data. This, of course, begged the question, what data? The answer in all cases is: all the files that would be needed to recreate all

In separate orders, the Postal Regulatory Commission has approved price changes for 2020 for USPS competitive products and most market-dominant products, but rejected the Postal Service’s pr

In a September 13 decision, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit granted a petition for review of the Postal Regulatory Commission’s November 13, 2018, order approving the postage pric

Every February, people in Punxsutawney (PA) drag a poor hibernating woodchuck out of its burrow so it can be used to forecast how much winter weather remains. This annual rite has long outlived its pr

There has to be a certain sense of satisfaction to the leaders of the Postal Service, not because they’re part of the team that runs a sprawling public agency, or because they control a multi-billio

An unfortunate yet chronic criticism of the Postal Service is that it seems to not understand its commercial customers’ businesses. What they do, why they do it, what their business objectives are...

Anyone reading the postal press may encounter references to “postal reform” and whether it will ever happen. People not in our industry may wonder just exactly what “postal reform”...

By Leo Raymond