In anticipation of the January postal rate increase, the U.S. Postal Service has requested that Standard Mail be renamed and restructured.
The USPS is asking that Standard A (formerly third class) Mail be renamed to Standard Mail and that Standard B (formerly fourth class) Mail be called Package Services which would include Parcel Post, Bound Printed Matter Media Mail (formerly Special Standard Mail) and Library Mail.
The request is part of a series of proposed rules the service is recommending to implement the average 6.4% rate hike next year. The rules, however, must first win the endorsement of the Postal Rate Commission and the authorization of its Board of Governors.
“This is the first I’ve heard about the proposed reclassification of Standard Mail,” Barry Brennan, director of postal affairs for the Mail Advertising Service Association (MASA), said. “I know there has been some talk about it in the proceedings before the PRC, but nothing like this.”
Besides renaming and restructuring Standard Mail, the USPS is proposing to change some mail eligibility and preparation requirements in addition to a number of fees, automation discounts, and special services.
For example, the enhanced carrier route and nonprofit enhanced carrier route mail would be subject to a residual shape surcharge of 15 cents and 18 cents respectively, although it would offer a discount of 0.03-cents for barcoded, machinable Standard Mail parcels.
Other proposed changes would increase Express Mail rates by an average of 3.8% and Priority Mail rates an average of 15%; offer first class mailers a new tray-based presort option for automatable letters and flats for mail entered at various bulk mail and destination delivery unit facilities. And, although the USPS plans to boost Parcel Post rates by an average of 1.3%, it said it would permit packages weighing less than 16 ounces to be mailed at Parcel Post rates.
The PRC, which is still conducting hearings on the proposed rate hike, is expected to file its recommendations with postal governors in early October.
In apparent anticipation of a favorable recommendation from the PRC, the USPS published the proposed rules, consuming 113-pages, in Tuesday’s Federal Register. There has been massive industry opposition to the proposed rate hike, which would boost the postage rates of most direct marketers by an average of 7.7% and nonprofit mailers by as much as 18%.
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