The Postal Regulatory Commission on Friday turned down a request by a catalog industry group to delay implementation of the new Standard Mail flat rates while it received more testimony.
The Coalition of Catalog Mailers filed a motion on April 12 to delay the new flat rates, set to go into effect on May 14, and said new testimony on the difficulties catalog mailers will have adjusting quickly to the new rates could persuade the commission to give mailers more time to prepare for the change.
But the PRC ruled that entering new evidence — together with oral cross-examination and rebuttal testimony — would impose an unacceptable delay, taking the case “well into late summer or early fall.”
“CCM’s request to reopen the record would likely prolong the process significantly and unfairly require parties that had participated in the case to expend additional resources,” Dan G. Blair, PRC chairman, said in a release accompanying the order.
The CCM was given standing to file comments on the evidence already taken in the case and to reply to PRC comments on that evidence. The new ruling sets a date of May 4 for filing initial comments on the closed record and another of May 11 for filing reply comments.
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