|
Box 4744,
New York, NY 10185-4744
www.msmany.org
In The News…
The House and Senate passed H.R. 6407, the
Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, in the final hours of the 109th
Congress early Dec. 9. President Bush has signed the bill into law.
Here’s a breakdown of what the new law means:
-
Future rate increases will be smaller. Marketers might want to plan for
smaller postage increases in the 4%-5% range every year.
-
The reform law will not change anything about the current rate case,
which was filed in May 2006 for an average 8.5% rate increase. It’s
expected that the higher rates will take effect May 6, 2007. (For
details on the individual mail classes, see the hotlink below to the
Postal Service’s explanation of the rate case.)
-
The law gives the Postal Service freedom to create new products or
tailor existing ones to suit customers' needs better. Look for
innovations, such as repositionable notes (yellow stickies) on outer
envelopes and Customized Market Mail (non-rectangular, over-dimensional
pieces of mail shipped without an envelope).
-
Postal officials will be able to set new postage rates much faster. The
old rate-case system took up to a year to set prices. Now this process
has been eliminated but adds oversight from the Postal Regulatory
Commission.
-
The law transfers responsibility of pension benefits earned by postal
employees when they were in the military to the U.S. Treasury
Department. Legislators successfully argued that no other federal
agency was responsible for this payment so why should the Postal Service
have to pay for it?
-
After 10 years, the Postal Regulatory Commission will be allowed to
modify the price cap or adopt an alternative rate system if deemed
necessary.
-
The PRC gains the power to subpoena Postal Service records to ensure
that the agency is in compliance with the law and that the interests of
the mailing public are being protected.
-
The law adds an Inspector General of the Postal Regulatory Commission,
who will monitor the PRC in the use of their expanded powers.
For the full article and Hot Links to more information, come visit the
New MSMA NY website at:
www.msmany.org. The MSMA continues to listen to what you feel is
important and will continue to deliver greater value to you in your
profession.
Important websites are:
United States Postal Service MSMA
National MailCom
http://www.usps.gov
http://msmanational.org
http://www.mailcom.org
http://ribbs.usps.gov
International
Facilities Management Association of Greater New York
www.ifmagny.org
New York Postal Customer Council Greater New Jersey
Postal Customer Council
http://www.mailingstuff.com/NYPCC
http://www.mailingstuff.com/GNJPCC
Submitted by:
Mike Mode, CMDSM
VP Programs-Mail
Systems Management Association of Greater New York
|
