3rd, 4th class postal rates to survive in Japan

The Asahi Shimbun The postal ministry will retain third- and fourth-class mail services when the new Japan Postal Corp. takes charge of the postal system next April

The decision represents a reversal in ministry policy, following the recommendation in December by a special research committee that third- and fourth-class delivery services be reduced or scrapped. The committee reasoned such a move would allow a new corporation a play a part in the postal system’s managementThe ministry was ready to follow suit by discontinuing the discount rates, but faced strong opposition from organizations for the disabled

But ministry officials who attended the Liberal Democratic Party division meeting Tuesday laid aside the plan

Under the current Postal Law, newspapers, magazines and other publications for the disabled are covered under third-class mail, while textbooks for correspondence courses, literature for the blind and academic journals are mailed under fourth-class post

“We intend to keep the discount system, allowing the new corporation to set up their own price scales,” a ministry official said

Hiroyuki Arai, head of the LDP’s general affairs division, however, said, “No proposal that opens the door to the revision of the whole system will be allowed.” Arai called on the ministry to fight to maintain discounted postage rates.