flats Archives - News/Media Alliance

Alliance Comments on USPS Annual Compliance Report

Holly Lubart — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 14:48:44 +0000

The News/Media Alliance submitted comments on the United States Postal Service’s Annual Compliance Report for Fiscal Year 2023 on January 30. The report emphasizes our concerns on Periodicals mail costs, prices, and service. The USPS cites inflation as a cause of its cost increases; however, inflation in FY 2023 was about 4 percent, while Periodicals costs that exceeded inflation nearly doubled that amount. The report also showed that flats processing concerns have worsened with productivity falling. The Alliance also re-iterated that holding the Postal Service accountable for controlling costs through a mechanism with meaningful consequences is necessary.

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News/Media Alliance Submits Comments on Postal Rate Increases

Holly Lubart — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 17:18:26 +0000

The News/Media Alliance submitted comments to the Postal Regulatory Commission on November 6 regarding the continuing concern of rate increases on periodicals. The increases are 7.320 percent for Within County Periodical and 1.594 percent for Outside County Periodicals. If approved, those increases will result in compounded increases of 35 percent since August 2021. The Alliance states that the underlying problem facing the Periodicals class is the Postal Service’s chronic inability to control Flats costs. In addition, the Postal Service proposes to continue a 10 percent incentive for Saturation Flats and Letters weighing 2 ounces or less. The Alliance recommended that the Postal Service extend this incentive to High Density Plus Flats.

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News/Media Alliance Requests Rejection of USPS Flats Plan

Holly Lubart — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 14:28:31 +0000

The News/Media Alliance submitted follow-up comments on October 16 to the Postal Regulatory Commission requesting that they reject the Postal Service’s Flats plan submitted on October 6, which was a requirement of the Postal Service Reform Act (PSRA) of 2022. As submitted, the Plan lacks the comprehensiveness, metrics, and accountability needed to remedy the well-established Flats inefficiencies.

The Alliance urges the Commission to 1) address deficiencies in the Postal Service Flats Plan Pursuant to Section 206 of the PSRA, which falls short of the comprehensive plan to control Flats costs that Congress intended; and 2) highlight that the Service’s Flats Plan fails to include measurable metrics to ensure accountability for its planned reforms.

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Alliance Comments on USPS Performance Incentive Mechanism and Flats Plan

Holly Lubart — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 13:23:39 +0000

The News/Media Alliance and the National Newspaper Association sent comments to the Postal Regulatory Commission on September 15 addressing the possibility of a Performance Incentive Mechanism (PIM) being applied to Periodicals class mail. The comments state that if a PIM is applicable, it should remove an additional 2 percent surcharge unless the Postal Service achieves 95 percent on-time performance for Periodicals.

The Alliance also submitted a letter on September 15 to the USPS on the draft Flats plan, which was a requirement of the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022. The Alliance is encouraged that the Postal Service is seeking industry input; however, we state that the plan should include more clear and verifiable metrics, a focus on lower costs, and further examination of all cost centers that have led to flats processing issues.

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USPS Office of Inspector General Releases Flat-Shaped Mail Audit Report

Holly Lubart — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 18:25:29 +0000

The United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG) released the Flats Cost Coverage Audit Report on June 29, as required by Section 206 of the Postal Service Reform Act. The report states that most Postal Service initiatives are not designed with specific, measurable objectives to directly reduce Flats cost and do not address the causes of inefficiencies in Flats operations identified by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). In addition, they identified opportunities for the Postal Service to further collaborate with stakeholders on current and new initiatives related to Flats. Several members of the News/Media Alliance participated in audit. The Postal Regulatory Commission released their Flats Operations Study Report April 6.

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