PMG: No Postage Rate Hike in 2010

Seeking to put postal customers at ease, Postmaster General Jack Potter late Thursday said the U.S. Postal Service would not raise prices for market-dominant products next year.

Those products include standard mail, first class mail, periodicals and single-piece parcel post.

In a letter circulating around the mailing community, Potter sought to ease fears of higher rates at a time when mail volume is plunging.

At the same time, this action could be a response to stagnating consumer prices: the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 mandated that postage hikes be tied to the Consumer Price Index.

Similarly, it was announced Thursday that cost of living adjustments to Social Security benefits, which are also tied to inflation, are not going up either.