Complete Story
03/16/2018
Column: 40 percent postal rate hike could be devastating
The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) may not be top of mind to most Americans, but the decisions they make affect each and every one of us. For more than a decade, the PRC has provided oversight of the United States Postal Service and its pricing. And now, the PRC wants to drastically increase postal rates in a move that would be devastating.
The PRC is an independent agency with representatives from both political parties: Robert G. Taub (R); Tony Hammond (R); Mark Acton (R) and Nanci E. Langley (D). They aren’t household names, but they have the final say in determining how much consumers, nonprofits and businesses pay to use the Postal Service.
As part of its 10-year review of postage rates, the PRC is proposing an enormous rate hike that would raise rates by as much as 40 percent on those of us who rely on the mail to connect with communities, raise funds for non-profits and conduct business. The PRC does not believe that mail volume will go down significantly if prices go up. That is simply not true. A rate increase of such magnitude would likely destabilize national mail operations and could even force local newspapers, charities, catalogues and magazines out of business entirely. Any previous notions of volume falloff being “modest” if rates went up are no longer relevant with a 40 percent increase in prices.
The PRC’s proposal is so alarming because it’s not just bad for those who rely on the mail, it’s bad for the Postal Service itself.
