Nonprofit industry officials are calling for quick passage of newly introduced legislation to reduce nonprofit postal rates.
Industry-backed legislation, (S-2686) requiring the U.S. Postal Service to set nonprofit postage rates at 5% below commercial rates was introduced in the Senate last week by Senators Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Daniel Akaka (D-HI).
"We need this bill to be signed into law before the Postal Rate Commission (PRC) completes its deliberations on a proposed January [nonprofit] rate hike," said Neal Denton, executive director of the Alliance for Nonprofit Mailers.
Swift passage of the bill, noted Chris Cleghorn, senior vice president of direct mail for the National Easter Seal Foundation, would "protect preferred postal rates for nonprofit fundraisers and publishers."
Besides capping nonprofit postage rates - including library and classroom rates -- at 95% of commercial postage rates, the legislation would direct the USPS to reduce its per-piece revenue from nonprofit Standard A (advertising) Mail by 40%.
The legislation, which the USPS formally asked for in February, was developed after months of discussions with officials of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, National Federation of Nonprofits, Direct Marketing Association, and the Association of Postal Commerce.
Richard A. Barton, the Direct Marketing Association's senior vice president, Congressional matters, called the legislation "a good compromise" because it " includes a specific formula that prevents nonprofit rates from exceeding those of commercial mailers."
Last year when the USPS raised its rates, it found that an inadvertent error resulted in nonprofit rates that were higher than commercial rates. Postal officials, acting to end the disparity, agreed to permit nonprofit organizations to pay commercial rates for their mailings until the error was corrected.
