A coalition of first class mailers yesterday urged the House Government Reform Committee to defeat the Postal Modernization Act (HR-22), amid unconfirmed rumors that a vote on the measure is imminent.
Committee Chairman Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) has not indicated when, or if, the panel will vote on the measure, which was narrowly approved last April by members of its postal subcommittee.
The coalition, in letters to the 43 committee members, argued that passage of the measure would: disproportionately increase the cost of a first class stamp; favor large mailers over small ones; give the U.S. Postal Service “uncontrolled authority to set discriminatory prices for postal products”; and encourage the USPS to compete unfairly with private business.
Among those signing the letters were the American Greeting Card Corp., Cahners Publishing Co., Hallmark Cards Inc., Newspaper Association of America, the Computer & Communications Industry Association and United Parcel Service.
The group said that the legislation does not correct the postal service’s “rogue behavior” of using its “government-granted advantages and capital mail monopoly revue[s] to enter markets already well served by the private sector.”
The group offered no concrete suggestions for reforming the USPS.
There was no comment from Rep. Burton, Rep. John McHugh (R-NY), who wrote the bill and chairs the postal subcommittee.
Jerry Cerasale, senior vice president, government affairs of the Direct Marketing Association, said that members of the coalition were “delusionary because they seem to think that a fix for the postal service is not needed.”
If they have their way, he added, “the postal service will be pegged down the way toward oblivion because as it now stands it can’t compete in the market place. It will lose volume and we will still have to pay for carrier and transportation costs, causing the cost of all mail to skyrocket.”
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