The U.S. Postal Service soon will petition the Postal Rate Commission to correct an anomaly in the nonprofit periodical rate schedule that went into effect Jan. 10. Currently, nonprofit mailers pay more than commercial mailers to send out publications without advertising.
PRC Chairman Ed Gleiman said the PRC expects to file its recommendations to correct the irregularity with the postal service’s Board of Governors “in an expeditious manner.” He did not say how fast the PRC would act or when it expected to file recommendations with the BOG.
“Not enough and not quick enough,” said National Federation of Nonprofits executive director Lee Cassidy. He said the USPS, which was pulled “kicking and screaming” to agree to correct the problem, “should refund the excess postage to nonprofit mailers.” In some cases, he added, the refunds could total more than $5,000.
The Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers “is pleased that the USPS and the PRC are working together on behalf of their customers that publish nonprofit periodicals,” said executive director Neal Denton. Describing the rate irregularity as unintentional, he noted that “it’s almost surprising there aren’t more of these anomalies.”
The rate irregularity gives commercial publishers higher automation discounts for the non-advertising content of their publications than nonprofit organizations. It was uncovered in late January by two unidentified national nonprofits shortly after commercial rates rose an average of 3% while nonprofit rates, being challenged in court by the Alliance, went up about 20%.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is scheduled to hear arguments on that challenge next month.
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