This was also on their site. This is complicated, but it looks like the USPS rate increase has been pushed back at least a month. For all the people who think they're not being honest with us, take the time to read this. By the way, gasoline went up in my neighborhood over $.50 in the last month and no one bothered to call me and get my approval.
Ratecase Delayed: What You Need to Know by Kim Mauch,
On Friday, USPS announced that the next postage increase, which was scheduled for April 26, has been delayed. There has been a lot of confusion about this price increase, including lots of discussion between USPS and the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). Here’s what you need to know about the changes.
Ratecase Delayed: What You Need to Know
Why the delay?This has been one of the messiest rate proposals in recent history. The original filing contained incorrectly calculated prices, incomplete sortation language, and poorly organized “billing determinants”. Billing determinants are used to describe how major changes to pricing logic, like the proposed FSS rates, comply with the price cap. The PRC remanded the rate proposal back to USPS for corrections twice. And even though the First-Class rates were approved, after the second remand there simply wasn’t enough time for USPS, or the industry, to implement any additional changes in the required 45 days. Rather than splitting the rate increases by class, USPS decided to push the entire set of changes. This decision was determined after much discussion with the postal industry, as well as the internal IT departments.
When will prices increase now?We’re not sure. Once the postal service re-files, that will re-start the 45-day “clock” on a new implementation date. After the filing, the industry will have one week to file comments, and then the PRC will have a week to make their decision. If USPS files a clean proposal soon, we could see a new date announced for as early as late May, but nothing has been announced.
How much will my postage go up?This is another unknown at this time. The original filing used the CPI price allotment of 1.966% back in January. However, over the last few months that allowance has increased. We don’t know yet whether USPS would re-file using the old CPI amount, or if they’ll attempt to file with a later percentage.
What about the exigency rates?USPS increased prices an additional 4.3% last year due to the extraordinary hardships they had during the recession. As part of the exigency filing, they are expected to “roll back” that price increase when they have fully funded the amount determined by the PRC. Based on the current information we have, the exigency prices are due to be rolled back by early fall. However, USPS has filed in an appeals court to make the exigency prices permanent. That court has not yet ruled, so the state of exigency is also in question. The mailing industry advocated for USPS to time this year’s price increase with the exigency rollback, so that we would only need to adjust for one rate change this year. It’s still unclear whether that’s the route the postal service will take.
What happens to the incentive programs scheduled for May?USPS has not officially announced what will happen with the incentives. While the proposed incentives have been approved by the PRC, they will require some level of software change in PostalOne. Whether that will be pushed back is unknown at this point.
What happens with Mail.dat and PostalOne?PostalOne release R41 and the implementation of Mail.dat 15-1 were specifically designed to support the new rates and sortation rules. These will be also delayed until the new implementation date.
When will I get software to support the next rate case?This will depend greatly on when USPS files its next rate proposal and how similar that proposal is to the last filing. We expect at least a few changes to prices and postage statement layouts. After the final prices, statements and DMM language is available, your software will be released as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, there are still quite a few unknowns about what is next. But mailers can relax a bit knowing that the price increases have been pushed off at least a month. If you have questions about the rate case, please
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