A dozen organizations and companies registered to participate in the testimony regarding a proposed postage rate increase averaging a 6.4% hike in postal rates less than a week after the U.S. Postal Service formally asked the Postal Rate Commission to endorse it.
Most, if not all of the rate case participants are expected to oppose the postal service's proposal to raise some $4 billion in new revenue primarily because of the surpluses - totaling nearly $6 billion - the USPS has posted since 1995.
Next month the PRC will begin hearing testimony for and against the proposed rate increase. After the hearings, which are expected to end in August, the PRC will take about a month to formulate a recommended decision to be filed with the postal service's Board of Governors on or before next October 11.
Expected participants include: the Mail Advertising Service Association; American Bankers Association, Advo Inc.; Dow Jones Inc.; Magazine Publishers Association; Newspaper Association of America; National Federation of Nonprofits; Time Warner Inc.; the Direct Marketing Association; McGraw Hill Cos.; United Parcel Service; and the PRC's Office of Consumer Affairs.
Over the next few weeks other mailer organizations and companies - such as the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, Mailers Coalition, Nashua Photo, Brooklyn Union Gas, AT&T, and Bell Atlantic, are also expected to notify the PRC of their intention to participate in the rate case.
Postal governors, by law, have the option of accepting or rejecting all or parts of the PRC's recommendations. They can also send parts of the recommendation back to the PRC for reconsideration or, by unanimous agreement, ignore the PRC's recommendations and authorize a rate increase that's either greater or lesser than the PRC recommended or the postal service asked for.
