The USPS Fairness Act (H.R. 2382), which would repeal the retiree health benefit pre-funding requirement, passed the threshold for bipartisan majority support in the House Of Representatives with 218 co-sponsors. However, more support is needed for this bill. With new House rules, legislation that reaches 290 or more co-sponsors can be scheduled directly for a…
August 10, 2018 NALC President Fredric Rolando’s statement on the release of the U.S. Postal Service’s financial statement for the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2018, covering the months of April, May and June of 2018: The Postal Service’s quarterly financial report shows the Postal Service’s underlying business strength while also indicating the need to…
Objective The U.S. Postal Service offers a postage rate discount to mailers for presorting, pre-barcoding, handling, or transporting of mail. These workshare discounts incentivize mailers to perform specific activities that the Postal Service would otherwise have to perform. They allow the Postal Service to increase operational efficiencies, avoid some mailing costs, stimulate mail volume growth,…
January 09, 2018 Over the holidays, the president mentioned the Postal Service in the following tweet: While it is clear that the intended target was Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos (who is also owner of The Washington Post), what is less clear is the reason for the sudden interest in the pricing of packages. It’s probably…
By Dennis Wyatt – January 2, 2018 The Twitter in Chief has a point. Big businesses seem to benefit from indirect subsidies from the United States Postal Service in the form of rates that do not cover basic costs given USPS lost $5.6 billion in 2016. President Trump last week tweeted the Postal Service…
The U.S. Postal Service participates in three retirement plans: the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS), and the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund (PSRHBF). The first two are pension plans, and the third is set up to prefund and provide retiree health benefits. These plans are restricted to government…
By the Editorial Board – September 11, 2017 Given Congress’ politically paralyzed lack of performance over the last decade, many members might view a 22 percent postage rate increase as a means to hold down the flow of angry letters. They should, however, recognize that boosting the cost of a stamp from 49 cents to…
By Ross Marchand – August 8, 2017 Medicare’s breaking point is nigh, with the program’s trustees projecting that solvency will only last until 2029. For American adults that will be dependent on the program in twelve short years, the trustee’s grave prognosis is a cause for alarm. But, at a time when program expenses need…
