Postal Service Will Increase Many Postage Rates July 1

On May 7, 2001, the Postal Service Governors voted to modify the postage rates that were implemented in January. The Governors’ unanimous vote came after the independent Postal Rate Commission issued a series of three recommended decisions that did not meet the Postal Service’s revenue requirement. The Board of Governors have determined the new rates will take effect July 1. “We take this action mindful of our statutory obligation to assure the financial integrity of the nation’s universal postal system. As the officials responsible for matching revenue with costs, we found that the additional revenue is essential and is adequately supported in the record compiled before the Commission,” said Robert F. Rider, Board of Governors Chairman. Rider explained that action came 16 months after the Postal Service filed its request for new rates, and almost two years after the revenue need was identified.

Under the new schedule, rates for a one-ounce First-Class Mail letter remain the same at 34 cents, but the charge for an additional ounce will now be 23 cents. Postcards will increase by 1-cent to 21 cents, the first increase in the postcard rate since 1995.

The new rates provide the level of revenue that the Governors found was supported on the record of the case before the Commission. In addition, the new rates are designed to meet the law’s requirement that each subclass of mail cover its attributable costs, and make a contribution to cover the institutional costs of the Postal Service.

Rate Highlights

Highlights by class of mail of the changes that will take effect on July 1 are:

First-Class Mail

• The single-piece, first-ounce letter rate will remain the same at 34 cents.
• The additional-ounce rate will increase from 21 cents to 23 cents.
• This increase conforms with the Postal Service’s request in the original rate filing. As a result, the postage for a 13-ounce piece, that is currently $2.86, will increase to $3.10.
• The first ounce at the Presorted rate, automation rate, and automation carrier route rate will increase by 0.2 cents each.
• The nonstandard surcharge remains the same; 11 cents for single-piece rates and 5 cents for automation and Presorted rates.

Cards

• All card rates will increase by 1 cent each.
• The fee for stamped cards will remain at 2 cents, in addition to the postage.

Business Reply Mail (BRM)

• Only the underlying postage rates will change. Accounting fees and per- piece charges are not affected.
• For basic and high-volume BRM, the card rate will increase to 21 cents.
• For qualified business reply mail (QBRM), the card rate will increase from 17 to 18 cents.
• The additional ounce for all BRM will increase from 21 to 23 cents.

Priority Mail

• The newly implemented Priority Mail rate for pieces weighing one pound or less will remain at $3.50. The two- pound and flat-rate envelope rates for Priority Mail will remain at $3.95. Rates for more than two pounds will increase by varying amounts.

Express Mail

• Express Mail rates will increase 1.5 percent across the board. The range of increases is 15 cents to $1.80 per piece.
• The Express Mail Post Office to Addressee half-pound rate will increase by 20 cents to $12.45, and the two-pound flat rate will increase 25 cents to $16.25.
• Customers who use Post Office to Post Office or Custom-Designed services will see small increases to those two service options as well.

Periodicals

• Overall, Periodical mail rates will increase by an average of 2.6 percent.
• The 5 percent differential for nonprofit and classroom rates will remain the same.
• There will be no change to application, additional entry, and reentry fees. The experimental ride-along rate will remain at 10 cents.

Outside-County Periodicals

• Zoned advertising pound rate increases will range from 0.5 cents to 1.5 cents per pound, depending on how far the publication travels.
• The non-advertising pound portion of the Periodicals rate will increase by 0.6 cents, from 17.3 to 17.9 cents.
• Piece rates will increase by 0.2 cents for carrier route saturation levels to 0.8 cents for non-automation basic rate addressed pieces.
• The discount for the non-advertising percentage applied to pieces will increase from .00065 to .00067 cents.

In-County Periodicals

• Pound rates will increase by 0.2 cents. Rates for addressed pieces will increase by 0.1 cent with the exception of the Basic and 3-digit automation rates, which will remain the same.

Standard Mail

• All non-carrier route rates will increase by 0.3 cents.
• Enhanced Carrier Route (ECR) pieces will increase by 0.2 cents.
• Nonprofit rates will have the same increases of 0.2 cents for ECR piece rates and 0.3 cents for all other nonprofit piece rates.
• There will be no changes to the pound rates.
• There will be no changes to drop ship discounts.

Package Services

• Parcel Post rates will increase by between 0 and 88 cents depending on zone and weight.
• Parcel Select will increase by between 0 and 66 cents depending on destination and weight. (NOTE: Some Parcel Post Intra-BMC and Parcel Select rates will be reduced by 5 cents).
• Bound Printed Matter rates will increase between 5 and 41 cents, depending on zone and sort.
• Media Mail will increase 3 cents across the board.
• Library Mail single-piece and 5-digit rates will increase 2 cents. BMC sorted Library Mail will increase 3 cents.

Special Services

• The fee for Certified Mail will increase from $1.90 to $2.10.
• Domestic Money Orders will increase from 75 to 90 cents.
• All other Special Services are not affected by this rate case modification.

International Mail

• The only change to International Mail is to the Recorded Delivery fee, which will increase from $1.90 to $2.10.

-— Pricing and Classification Implementation