Tag: USPS

The Governors of the US Postal Service voted November 14 to accept the Postal Rate Commission’s recommendation to increase most rates and fees by approximately 5.4 percent. This price increase – the first since 2002 – is needed to fulfill a federal law passed in 2003 that requires the Postal Service to place USD.1 billion in an escrow account by October 1, 2006. Without this federal mandate, it would not have been necessary to raise prices in 2006. Among the adjustments, the 1 ounce single-piece rate for First-Class Mail will increase from 37 cents to 39 cents, and the postcard rate will increase by one cent, to 24 cents. The Board of Governors set Sunday, January 8, 2006, as the effective date for the new rates and fees.

The results are in – the US Postal Service ended 2005 with a record sixth consecutive year of growth in productivity, wiped out its debt and delivered fifty percent more mail to 32 million more homes and businesses than it did 20 years ago while doing it at 1985 staffing levels. These results are highlighted in the just released 2005 Annual Report of the U.S. Postal Service. “These remarkable results reflect the strong efforts throughout the entire organization to remain focused on the transformational strategies we identified in 2002,” said Postmaster General John E. Potter and Board of Governors Chairman James C. Miller III.