How the new postal rate-making process affects catalogers, Part 1 of 2

By Jerry Cerasale

In this year’s rate case, the USPS held true to its 1990 philosophy and proposed Standard mail rates that continued to slowly increase the letter/flat rate differential. The Postal Regulatory Commission (as renamed and redefined under postal reform), however, decided that the rate difference should match the cost differential. Thus, the average 9 percent rate increase for Standard mail became a 20 percent to 40 percent rate increase for many catalogs.