As USPS goes broke, commission declines price boost

A 5.6 percent postal rate increase requested by the United States Postal Service was turned down Thursday by the Postal Regulatory Commission. Among the proposed increases, the postal service said raising the price of a first class stamp from 44 cents to 46 cents was essential because of reduced mail traffic during the economic recession. In rejecting the request, the commission blamed internal inefficiencies, not a bad economy, for the situation the USPS finds itself in. Article source – As Postal Service goes broke, commission denies rate increase by Personal Money Store.

Aid is one thing postal rate boosts need badly

All the money the Postal Service has is going down the drain. By 2020, a $238 billion deficit is expected to happen. The Postal Service asked for a 7 percent increase on any packages that have things in them like books or films. This is on top of the elevated stamp price request. It also hopes to get an increase on parcels under a lb. It is hoping that it will go up 23 percent. The rate increases would are the first in two years for the Postal Service. Congress has gotten an interesting extra request from the Postal Service to conserve more money. It wants to, for the very first time since 1863, stop Saturday postal mail delivery.

United States Postal mail changing

The USPS was left out of a temporary expending measure to finance federal programs via early December that passed the Senate on Wednesday and cleared the House Thurs. The Washington Post accounts that Republican opposition also kept Congress from letting the USPS postpone a $5.5 billion payment required by law to pre-fund retiree medical benefits. Just since 2008, $10 billion in spending has been cut from the Postal Service. It plans to let those retiring leave without hiring everyone brand new. The USPS and Congress are working together to come up with a plan to keep postal mail service alive and well, accounts the Office of Management and Budget.

The reason why the postal rate is not increasing

In 2009 alone, $3.8 billion was lost by the USPS. The Associated Press reports that Ruth Goldway, chairman of the commission, said the proposal was rejected more for the presentation than the details. The economic recession is not the reason the reason why the adjust needs to be made, she said at a news conference. It needs to adjust because long-term structural problems were never addressed before now. The Affordable Postal mail alliance fought with numerous others to reject this. The others involved were banks, national retailers, utilities, charities, smaller businesses and some consumer groups that got together.

Articles cited

Bloomberg

bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-30/u-s-postal-service-denied-another-rate-increase-by-regulatory-commission.html

Washington Post

washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/29/AR2010092906645.html?wpisrc=nl_pmheadline

Associated Press

google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iqbZ05-vr6nAfjJzyIXr_d1k26DwD9IIDJ4O0?docId=D9IIDJ4O0