Summer 2022 - 40

THE GCA DESK
Affordable Postage
FR OM USP S LEADERS
Vital work still remains to fulfill the promise of postal reform
BY NORA WEISER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, GCA
RAFE MORRISSEY, CA VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, GCA
Nora Weiser
W
Rafe Morrissey
ith Congress in the grip of gridlock on almost every major piece
of legislation, bipartisan support that led to the enactment of the
Postal Service Reform Act (PSRA) is truly an achievement. It provides
the USPS with significant financial benefits; removing $57 billion from
its balance sheet and eliminating the need to pre-fund future retiree
healthcare costs. Coupled with $10 billion in COVID grant funding
and far better-than-predicted revenue performance, this significantly
improves the USPS's financial position and outlook.
Sadly, the USPS leadership has refused to alter the course they set
in their Delivering for America Plan,
which proposes large rate increases
and assumes a 42% reduction in
mail volume. In recent comments,
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy
has doubled down on that formula
advising mailers that they should
be prepared for uncomfortable rate
increases. This path represents a
big challenge for the greeting card
industry, particularly because
greeting cards are one of the mail
categories where GCA has worked to
create growth potential.
While outreach continues to
USPS leadership, the Greeting Card
Association (GCA) has also been active
in seeking opportunities for the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC)
to exercise its authority to review rate limits. The day the PSRA was
signed GCA submitted a petition with the American Forest and Paper
Association to ask the PRC to conduct an updated review of rate limits,
40 Summer 2022 | STATIONERY TRENDS
Sadly, the USPS leadership has
refused to alter the course they
set in their Delivering for America
Plan, which proposes large rate
increases and assumes a 42%
reduction in mail volume.
factoring in the major financial improvements that have occurred since
its decision in 2020. The Association for Postal Commerce (PostCom)
also submitted a similar petition.
We hope that the PRC will accept one or both of these petitions,
despite the Commission's resistance to earlier requests. Last year, GCA
supported efforts to obtain a requirement for a review in the annual
appropriations legislation that resulted in report language directing
the PRC to consult with stakeholders, which thus far they have failed
to do. We have hit the ground running in the FY2023 appropriations
process to get bipartisan requests
in both the House and Senate for
a binding legislative requirement
and are leading efforts within
the Keep US Posted campaign to
support that goal.
Postal reform remains a
significant legislative achievement
that has brought fundamental
financial benefits for the USPS, but
USPS leadership must alter their
approach to mail and allow those
benefits to result in a rate strategy
that balances more moderate rate
increases while retaining as much
mail volume as possible to fulfill
an accurately calculated revenue
requirement. If it fails to do so, then the PRC must step up and exercise
its authority to protect the interest of citizen mailers who are captive
to the USPS's monopoly. GCA will continue to devote its efforts to those
goals. S T
Requires Better Decisions
Summer 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Summer 2022
