Mailers Council News Release
For Immediate Release Release No. 06-1
January 6, 2006 www.mailers.org
Contact: Robert E. McLean bmclean@mailers.org 703-418-0390
Mailers Council Warns Annual Rate Increases Inevitable without Postal Reform Legislation
WASHINGTON, DC, January 6, 2006—Mailers Council Executive Director Robert E. McLean today issued the following statement in response to the postage rate increase the United States Postal Service will implement this weekend:
“The implementation of a postage rate increase on January 8 is a reminder to Congress and the White House that Americans will see significant annual postage rate increases like the one being implemented this Sunday for years to come—unless they approve legislation to reform the United States Postal Service. This legislation is necessary for two reasons.
“First, we need to bring the outdated postal system into this century, as recommended by a presidential commission and the General Accountability Office. Reform legislation would give the Postal Service greater operational flexibility and let it manage a more reasonable postage rate-setting system.
“Second, we need to reverse the detrimental effects of PL 108-18, the Postal Civil Service Retirement System Funding Reform Act, signed into law in 2003. That law required the Postal Service to create an escrow account we find unnecessary. It also established a new policy requiring the Postal Service—and its customers—to pay the retirement cost of postal employees earned through military service.
“We believe it is unfair to penalize mailers by charging them higher rates to fund a military retirement obligation. After January 8, postal customers will pay two cents for every stamp they buy—just to fund the escrow and military payments.
“Higher postage will cost American businesses hundreds of millions of dollars in added costs. Those costs will affect many outside the $9 billion mailing industry and its 9 million jobs. Many companies will not buy new equipment or hire new employees—and some will have to layoff current employees.
Small businesses that use the mail exclusively to market their companies, small publishers that operate on thin margins and even the largest catalog companies will all send fewer pieces of mail—beginning an endless cycle of higher postage, followed by volume reductions, followed by higher rates. Soon we’ll have a system that cannot support itself. And the American taxpayer will be asked to bail out a postal system costing billions annually.”
The Mailers Council is a coalition of corporations, nonprofit organizations and major mailing associations. Collectively the Council accounts for 70 percent of the nation's mail volume. The Mailers Council believes that the USPS can be operated more efficiently, supports efforts aimed at lowering postal costs, and has the ultimate objective of containing postal rates without compromising service.
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Note to Media: For background material PL 108-18, the Postal Civil Service Retirement System Funding Reform Act, call 703-418-0390, or send an email to bmclean@mailers.org.