When Congress passed the Postal Civil Service Retirement Funding Reform Act of 2003, mailers got a long-needed break. The measure's passage meant that Postmaster General Jack Potter would be able to make good on his promise to keep postal rates unchanged until at least 2006.
Now before we go any further, let's make absolutely sure we understand that this “break” wasn't simply manna from legislative heaven. Rather, this was just recompense to mailers for having been required to pay the many unnecessary rate increases that have made the cost of doing business by mail more expensive than necessary.
For sure, this unprecedented period of rate stability couldn't have come at a better time.
While the Federal Reserve continues to claim that the economy has begun a slow recovery, there really hasn't been much to convince direct mailers that this truly is the case. Indeed, if something more doesn't happen soon, this respite from rate hikes may quickly expire and we'll be stuck with the “same old, same old” once again.
As things stand, we should expect the U.S. Postal Service to file its next case for a rate increase sometime in late 2004 or early 2005. Why? Because it will take about 12 months to complete the litigation that's part of every rate case, and that will bring us to the threshold of 2006. But before we go off and sell our direct marketing stocks, let's keep in mind that there's cause for hope.
First, Congress could lengthen the period of rate relief by releasing the civil service retirement funds that will be escrowed if an additional reform measure fails to pass.
Second, the quickest and surest way of turning the corner to a better postal future would be to push as hard as possible for the enactment of postal legislative reform. This would combine the best elements of the recommendations made by the Presidential Commission on the Postal Service and the proposals already laid out by several key players in Congress.
Unfortunately, simply wishing is not enough to make postal reform a reality. Indeed, if it's going to happen at all, our industry must be willing to shoulder the burden of educating an otherwise ill-informed and disinterested Congress on its benefits.
GENE A. DEL POLITO is president of the Association for Postal Commerce (PostCom) in Arlington, VA.
