[CATALOG AGE] –Later this month, the U.S. Postal Service will release a report to Congress on its progress in working out negotiated service agreements (NSA)with large volume mailers over additional worksharing discounts.
“We hope to kick up a debate between us and the Postal Rate Commission (PRC) on how we might — through current regulation — make NSAs more applicable and easier for all of us to use,” said Deborah Willhite, USPS senior vice president, government relations and public policy, at the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee meetings in Washington.
She said the USPS would like to work first with the PRC to make the agreements more attractive through current regulations. If not, legislation can be crafted to get the law more acceptable to the USPS and its customers, she said.
The driving motivation behind the agreements is that it works for both the postal service and the industry, Willhite said.
AOL Time-Warner has been a leading ally to the USPS and its quest for NSAs.
Other plans call for working within current postal regulations to make phased postal rates a reality. “We’ve already started talking to our oversight committee about phased rates,” she said.
As for working outside of current law, she acknowledged that there are numerous rumors taking place on Capital Hill regarding a new postal reform bill.
“I’ve heard everything from [previous reform bill author] Rep. John McHugh [R-NY] throwing up his hands and ready to move on to his chairmanship of the serviceman’s services committee and abandon this,” she said, “to his being on the verge of marking up a new postal reform bill and only seeking an up or down vote to get it over with.”
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