Tag: USPS

The US Postal Service filed a request Friday seeking higher rates. The agency wants a 2-cent increase in first-class mail, and similar increases for other types of mail, to take effect early next year. It would increase the rate for regular mail to 39 cents from 37 cents. The agency said that it is seeking the increase, 5.4 percent across the board, only because of a requirement that it establish a USD3.1 billion escrow fund. The agency has sought congressional action to eliminate that requirement. If that happens, postal officials said, the rate increase request will be withdrawn. Postage rates last went up in 2002.

The US Postal Service generated net income of USD1.8 billion in the Oct. 1-Feb. 28 period, which was USD1.1 million over budget, the agency said yesterday.
Also, revenue totaled USD29.9 billion, which was USD808.5 million better than planned, and was up 1.8 percent from the year-ago period. Expenses of USD28.1 billion were USD252.9 million under plan, but up 3.5 percent from the year-ago period. Total year-to-date mail volume of 90.2 billion pieces increased 3.3 percent from the year-ago period. The most significant volume increase was in Standard Mail, which jumped 6.9 percent. The category with the next-largest increase was Priority Mail, up 2.7 percent.

The US Postal Service is recommending to its Board of Governors that it file a rate case with the Postal Rate Commission for an across-the-board increase of 5 percent to 6 percent. The news was part of Postmaster General John E. Potter’s keynote address yesterday at the National Postal Forum in Nashville. If the governors approve management’s proposal, “our formal filing with the Postal Rate Commission will follow shortly,” he said.

On Monday, March 21, the Postmaster General John E. Potter General will deliver the keynote address to the 2005 National Postal Forum (NPF). The mailing industry leaders in attendance will hear a progress report on the Postal Service’s Transformation Plan, the status of Postal reform, and the USPS Governor’s recent direction for management to prepare a rate case filing with the Postal Rate Commission. Potter’s 8 am speech during the first general session of the NPF opens the premier mailing industry symposium. Since Potter became the 72nd Postmaster General of the United States in June, 2001, he has led the Postal Service in achieving dramatic productivity increases and consistent savings, while reaching record levels of customer service and satisfaction. Potter’s blueprint for change, outlined in the April 2002 Transformation Plan, has been cited as an example of positive steps the agency is taking independent of proposed changes to its statutory operating charter.
For 2005, the Postal Service produced better-than-expected First Quarter results with a significant increase in mail volume and net income of USD1.7 billion. Since June, 2002 the Postal Service has kept postal rates stable. Potter has pledged that rates will remain steady until 2006.