Plan for a CPI-based rate increase around 3 percent next spring, Part 2 of 2

By Jerry Cerasale

New rate-making rules under postal reform also allow the Postal Service to consider market effects when setting rates. Therefore, the USPS might adjust rates to avoid volume loss, for example. Unfortunately, the entire dramatic effects of the May 2007 rate increase on catalog mail will not be known by the USPS when it announces its new rates in February. The USPS will announce the new rates at least three months prior to implementation to allow mailers and software providers to prepare.