For Hill Staffers

This section offers postal information for postal staffers on Capitol Hill. You can get information on other postal issues and background on the USPS or the mailing industry and the jobs it creates in your congressional district or state by contacting Mailers Council Executive Director Bob McLean by email (bmclean@mailers.org), or by phone (703-418-0390).

What if the Postal Service Cannot Pay Its Bills, Employees, or Retirees?

Read the Mailers Council May 20 testimony before the House oversight subcommittee to learn more about how Congress can prevent this from happening. Click here to download a copy.

Postal Reform Act: The Status of Studies It Requires

The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 mandated numerous studies to be done by the Postal Service, Postal Regulatory Commissin, and other federal agencies.

• Click here for a document summarizing the more significant studies and their status.

Download the Completed Studies

• PRC Study on Universal Postal Service and the Postal Monopoly
  • USPS Report on Universal Service
  • USPS Report on Universal Service--Executive Summary Only
• PRC Study on Nonpostal Services
  • Pitney Bowest Motion to Compel the USPS to File a Complete List of Nonposal Services
  • Mailing Associations' Statement in Support of Pitney Bowes
• GAO Study on Recycling (final version)
• Treasury Study
• Treasury Study Transmittal Letter
• FTC Study

Studies Required yet to Be Completed

• Five years after enactment (i.e., 2011), and every five years thereafter, the PRC will “conduct a review to determine whether the institutional costs contribution requirement under subsection (a)(3) should be retained in its current form, modified, or eliminated.” (Sec.202)
• Every five years (i.e., beginnning in 2011), the PRC shall submit to Congress a report on the operation of “the amendments made by this Act” and recommendations for any changes needed to “improve the effectiveness or efficiency of the postal laws of the United States.” (Sec. 701)
• Within five years of enactment (i.e., by 2011), the GAO shall submit a report on the future of the Postal Service’s business model. (Sec. 710)

Current Issues

• Does advertising mail kill forests?
  Read our position on this issue by clicking here.
• Direct mail has an environmental impact, but what is myth and what is reality? Knowing the facts helps consumers, businesses and organizations formulate more informed opinions about the value of the communications in their mailbox.      Click here to read more about Advertising Mail and the Environment.

• Mailers Council Asks Congress to Let the Postal Service Manage Its Operations to Ensure Affordable Postage

• Why Some Mailers Pay Less for Postage, and the Work They Do to Receive Reduced Postage Rates

Postal Fact Sheets

1. USPS Background
2. Any Postage Increase Is Never 'Just' a Penny to American Business
3. Taxes Do NOT Pay for Postage, and Haven't Since 1982
4. How the US Postal Service Sets Postage Rates
5. Why Congress Owes the Postal Service Almost $1 Billion

Congressional Testimony

• Testimony on July 24, 2008, before the House Subcpommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia

• Testimony on August 7, 2007, before the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security

• Testimony on July 26, 2007, before the House Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia

Links

• United States Postal Service
• Postal Rate Commission
• Postal Inspector General's Blog

About the Mailers Council

• Background
• News Releases
• Board of Directors
• Member Organizations
• Membership

©1999-2006 Mailers Council http://www.mailers.org