The United States Postal Service filed notice of price changes to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) on October 6, which are scheduled to take effect January 21, 2024. The average increase is 7.3% for within county mail and 1.5% for outside county mail. In its filing, USPS said that its’ strategy for Periodicals price changes is “to maximize use of cap space on Outside County Piece prices, after resolving workshare discount compliance” and to increase Within County prices “to meet workshare passthrough requirements”. A spreadsheet detailing the increases for periodicals and marketing mail is attached. The Postal Accountability and Enhance Act (PAEA), passed in 2006, introduced a price cap on market dominant products. Price increases for each class of market dominant mail is limited by the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Year-to-date, the Postal Service has a $7 billion loss despite continued rate increases and remains behind in progress on the Delivering for America plan. The PRC will review the changes before they are scheduled to take effect; however, it is unlikely to change what has been proposed since the PRC review is limited to verifying that the increase does not exceed the CPI cap. The Alliance is working on numerous avenues to address the rate increases.
Holly Lubart is Vice President, Government Affairs at the News/Media Alliance. Previously, she served as Vice President of Government Affairs for the PA NewsMedia Association and started her career as a journalist. Lubart has over 20 years of political and communications experience.
