Postal Increase article

Post Office to Seek At Least 10% Rise In Postage Rates
WASHINGTON (The Wall Street Journal)--The U.S. Postal Service is
expected to start seeking approval for an increase in postage rates of
at least 10% early next year.

Such a rise would push the price of a first-class stamp to at least 41
cents -- and hurt consumers and businesses that already have
shouldered three rounds of rate increases in the past few years.

First-class stamps have jumped 12% since early 2001, with the last
increase of three cents to the current 37 cents coming in 2002. Higher
rates also could make it tougher for the Postal Service to hold on to
customers defecting to e-mail and online bill payments instead of
first-class mail and to package-delivery rivals such as United Parcel
Service Inc., Atlanta.

The unusually hefty size of the expected new rate increase stems
partly from the demise of proposed legislation that would have allowed
the post office to take advantage of about $3 billion a year in
pension-fund savings resulting from a change in how it contributes to
a federal retirement fund. The bill also would have freed the Postal
Service from future pension payments to certain postal workers who
served in the military.

Ralph Moden, the Postal Service's senior vice president of government
relations, said the agency already was planning to file for a rate
increase early next year to "cover inflationary pressures." But the
needed price increase likely will be in the double digits if the post
office has to keep contributing to the pensions of veterans and can't
tap the pension-fund savings, he said.

Big mail users have been worried about a rate increase for months, and
the postal bill's failure has them bracing for a large increase.

Neal Denton, executive director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers,
a trade group that represents charities, predicted that many members
will have to look for less expensive alternatives to the mail.
"Smaller churches and charities . . . will be hit the hardest," he
said.

The specter of a double-digit rate increase has grown as it became
clear in recent weeks that postal-overhaul legislation wouldn't make
it out of Congress this year, despite unanimous approval by committees
in the House and Senate. While Congress is expected to return to
session for a few days in December, the prospects that a postal bill
will be passed are seen as slim.

The proposed legislation would give the Postal Service more
flexibility to operate like a business, including streamlining the
cumbersome rate-setting process, which typically drags on for almost a
year and pits the post office against some of its largest customers
and package-delivery rivals.

The higher rates aren't likely to take effect until early 2006. The
Postal Service must submit its rate-increase request to the Postal
Rate Commission, which has as many as 10 months to issue a recommended
decision to the Postal Service's board of governors. The Postal
Service has pledged repeatedly not to raise rates until 2006, but the
lengthy rate-approval process is expected to trigger the request for
an increase sometime in the spring.

The pension changes would help the Postal Service reduce the size of
its next rate increase, partly by returning responsibility for $27
billion in pension obligations to the Treasury Department.

For the nine months ended June 30, the Postal Service had a profit of
$2.82 billion on revenue of $52.09 billion. The volume of first-class
deliveries, which generate more than half of the agency's revenue,
fell 1.4%. While the Postal Service has been thinning its enormous
work force to cut costs, it still must cope with making deliveries to
1.7 million new addresses a year.



www.starwarsautographcollecting.com
http://dahoov2.topcities.com

This has been a discussion on some of the other groups that I'm a part of.
Actually, this will be the fourth increase in six years (since 1999).
Personally, I don't think that the service is worth another increase. The
PO cries that the Internet and FedEX-type businesses are hurting them. If
they consider themselves hurting with an almost $3 billion profit, then I
don't feel sorry for them in the least. I wish that I could share their
pain. The PO keeps increasing their prices and then wonders why people are
going to FedEx. You may pay a little more with the other companies, but the
packages have a better rate of getting where it's supposed to and my "do not
bend" envelopes aren't shoved into a mailbox with more bends than an
inexperienced diver. If {who am I kidding}WHEN this increase goes through,
we're going to be looking at a roll of stamps costing $41.00. At the rate
that they are increasing (a .04¢ increase this time), we'll be looking at
$50.00 for a roll of stamps in a couple of years. On top of hurting a lot
of people paying bills, it's going to damage the TTM hobby as it is. Right
now, my "wonderful" mail delivery service is getting to my house about 6-7
PM. That's ridiculous. The PO is a government arm, so you know that there
is a lot of wasted spending. They could probably save money by reducing the
salaries of the Post Masters, not to mention the General. The higher ups
can go a couple of years with the same wall paint color in their offices and
they can do like real people and flip the seat/couch cushions if they are
stained or ripped. Instead of pegging us for an increase for shoddy
service, they should restructure within first.

--

Mike
Gummby3

~~ Star Collector ~~
www.star-collector.net
Celebrity addresses the way they should be - free.


"dahoov2" wrote in message
...
Post Office to Seek At Least 10% Rise In Postage Rates
WASHINGTON (The Wall Street Journal)--The U.S. Postal Service is
expected to start seeking approval for an increase in postage rates of
at least 10% early next year.

Such a rise would push the price of a first-class stamp to at least 41
cents -- and hurt consumers and businesses that already have
shouldered three rounds of rate increases in the past few years.

First-class stamps have jumped 12% since early 2001, with the last
increase of three cents to the current 37 cents coming in 2002. Higher
rates also could make it tougher for the Postal Service to hold on to
customers defecting to e-mail and online bill payments instead of
first-class mail and to package-delivery rivals such as United Parcel
Service Inc., Atlanta.

The unusually hefty size of the expected new rate increase stems
partly from the demise of proposed legislation that would have allowed
the post office to take advantage of about $3 billion a year in
pension-fund savings resulting from a change in how it contributes to
a federal retirement fund. The bill also would have freed the Postal
Service from future pension payments to certain postal workers who
served in the military.

Ralph Moden, the Postal Service's senior vice president of government
relations, said the agency already was planning to file for a rate
increase early next year to "cover inflationary pressures." But the
needed price increase likely will be in the double digits if the post
office has to keep contributing to the pensions of veterans and can't
tap the pension-fund savings, he said.

Big mail users have been worried about a rate increase for months, and
the postal bill's failure has them bracing for a large increase.

Neal Denton, executive director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers,
a trade group that represents charities, predicted that many members
will have to look for less expensive alternatives to the mail.
"Smaller churches and charities . . . will be hit the hardest," he
said.

The specter of a double-digit rate increase has grown as it became
clear in recent weeks that postal-overhaul legislation wouldn't make
it out of Congress this year, despite unanimous approval by committees
in the House and Senate. While Congress is expected to return to
session for a few days in December, the prospects that a postal bill
will be passed are seen as slim.

The proposed legislation would give the Postal Service more
flexibility to operate like a business, including streamlining the
cumbersome rate-setting process, which typically drags on for almost a
year and pits the post office against some of its largest customers
and package-delivery rivals.

The higher rates aren't likely to take effect until early 2006. The
Postal Service must submit its rate-increase request to the Postal
Rate Commission, which has as many as 10 months to issue a recommended
decision to the Postal Service's board of governors. The Postal
Service has pledged repeatedly not to raise rates until 2006, but the
lengthy rate-approval process is expected to trigger the request for
an increase sometime in the spring.

The pension changes would help the Postal Service reduce the size of
its next rate increase, partly by returning responsibility for $27
billion in pension obligations to the Treasury Department.

For the nine months ended June 30, the Postal Service had a profit of
$2.82 billion on revenue of $52.09 billion. The volume of first-class
deliveries, which generate more than half of the agency's revenue,
fell 1.4%. While the Postal Service has been thinning its enormous
work force to cut costs, it still must cope with making deliveries to
1.7 million new addresses a year.


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unfortunately, they have the monopoly on stamps though.... but if
their rates increase for packages, I can really see myself going to
UPS, Fedex or other packaging places.

As for the post office paint jobs, I must say none of them around here
is accused of that. I have a MAJOR issue with the comfort level of
our main post office here.... NO AIR CONDITIONING. They are using
fans because there's no money....where is all the money going I
wonder? The service is not getting better.

On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 14:04:36 -0600, "Gummby3"
wrote:

This has been a discussion on some of the other groups that I'm a part of.
Actually, this will be the fourth increase in six years (since 1999).
Personally, I don't think that the service is worth another increase. The
PO cries that the Internet and FedEX-type businesses are hurting them. If
they consider themselves hurting with an almost $3 billion profit, then I
don't feel sorry for them in the least. I wish that I could share their
pain. The PO keeps increasing their prices and then wonders why people are
going to FedEx. You may pay a little more with the other companies, but the
packages have a better rate of getting where it's supposed to and my "do not
bend" envelopes aren't shoved into a mailbox with more bends than an
inexperienced diver. If {who am I kidding}WHEN this increase goes through,
we're going to be looking at a roll of stamps costing $41.00. At the rate
that they are increasing (a .04¢ increase this time), we'll be looking at
$50.00 for a roll of stamps in a couple of years. On top of hurting a lot
of people paying bills, it's going to damage the TTM hobby as it is. Right
now, my "wonderful" mail delivery service is getting to my house about 6-7
PM. That's ridiculous. The PO is a government arm, so you know that there
is a lot of wasted spending. They could probably save money by reducing the
salaries of the Post Masters, not to mention the General. The higher ups
can go a couple of years with the same wall paint color in their offices and
they can do like real people and flip the seat/couch cushions if they are
stained or ripped. Instead of pegging us for an increase for shoddy
service, they should restructure within first.



www.starwarsautographcollecting.com
http://dahoov2.topcities.com