Mailer groups are thankful for the just-announced small postage increases but don’t think they’ll do anything substantive for the bleak financial picture of the USPS which is likely to run out of cash next summer.
These increases are part of the small annual increases mandated by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006.
Postage rates did not go up last year.
On average, standard mail prices will increase 2.124%.
First class prices will increase by 2.133%. That includes the price of stamps which will go up to 45 cents from 44 cents,
Within standard mail, the prices of letters will go up by 1.867%; flats 2.209%; parcels 2.86%; high density/saturation letters by 2.298%; high density/saturation parcels by 2.87%; and carrier route by 2.124%.
“Overall, we were surprised that standard mail flats (catalogs) received an increase on the low end of the spectrum while High Density flats received an increase at the high end,” says Hamilton Davison, president of the American Catalog Mailers Association.“While we are appreciative that the significant financial turmoil of the catalog sector is recognized, we would have preferred to see the range flipped given the more significant role of carrier route for catalogs today,” he notes.
“There’s no way this [rate increase] will dilute pressure for reform,” says Tony Conway, executive director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers.
This year, postal reform bills have been introduced in Congress but nobody expects them to go anywhere.
In fact, Conway doesn’t see any chance for meaningful postal legislation until after the Presidential Election next year.
He does concede that any such bill will likely reflect the political needs of that moment.
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