DMA and Affordable Mail Alliance Continue Fight to Oppose USPS Rate Hike

August 4, 2010 — Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), Ranking Republican Member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has released a statement agreeing with the Affordable Mail Alliance that the exigent rate hikes proposed by the USPS are not justified under the law.

Collins, one of the main authors of the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA), wrote, “I have repeatedly expressed my concerns to the Postal Service that reducing service and increasing rates are not the means to raise mail volume and restore fiscal balance… As the author of the PAEA, I can unequivocally state that the law does not provide for an exigent rate case based merely on poor economic circumstances or on increased utilization of electronic or other alternatives to traditional mail. Neither of these circumstances is exceptional nor extraordinary as required by law.”

Senator Collins’ letter was a welcome dose of reality after the USPS issued a press release earlier today asserting that the rate increase is consistent with Collins’ understanding of the “exigent circumstances” test.

“Senator Collins, the author of the exigency standard, is the best judge of whether it has been met,” said Tony Conway, AMA member and Executive Director of the Alliance for Nonprofit Mailers. “That’s why her letter, clearly stating that the Postal Service hasn’t met the standard here, is so telling.”

Last week, DMA and the Affordable Mail Alliance asked the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to dismiss the USPS’ request to increase postal rates by ten times the rate permissible by law. In a response submitted to the PRC yesterday, USPS asserted that Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) – one of the main authors of the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) – believed that the rate increase is consistent with her understanding of the “exigent circumstances” test.

For further information, please visit www.affordablemailalliance.org.

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