September 2004

Amendments To Postal Reform Bill
In June, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee unanimously approved the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. However, before the vote, several amendments to the bill were approved. 

Amendments to the bill were introduced to make the bill more uniformly accepted. For example, competitors of the USPS have long complained about the post office's unfair advantage in pricing parcels and overnight products since they are able to subsidize a loss in those products with money gained from First Class postage. And postal worker unions have complained about special discount pricing the USPS has negotiated with large mailers.

This postal reform bill, which could become legislation as early as this year, addresses those issues with rate caps for market-dominant products like First Class mail and limits negotiated rate discounts to be no more than the cost savings. Also, while the USPS Board of Governors would have authority to set rates for competitive products like parcel post and Express Mail, they cannot subsidize those products with market-dominant products.

Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) introduced an amendment ordering a study on potential rate incentives for mailers that use recycled paper.

News Poll
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Have the campaigns influenced which Presidential candidate gets your vote?

____ Yes
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We'll post the poll results here in next month's e-newsletter.
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Results of last month's poll: 

Do you have a friend or family stationed in the war zone?

63% Yes
37% No

See the results of other surveys CCI has conducted online at http://www.mailCCI.com/data/surveys.asp.

www.mailCCI.com
Let's be honest. The people and systems of the USPS possess a plethora of information. The problem, though, is there is not one place or one person that has all the data. While we've found that every USPS employee is diligent in helping to solve problems, like any bureaucracy, answers are sometimes just beyond our reach.

CCI has always tried to fill in the blanks and educate our customers in the mailing industry. Our latest endeavor is the best yet. There has always been a shroud of mystery around Sectional Center Facilities (SCF) - what they are, where they are, what they do, and why they are important to mailers.

I know you'll find these services invaluable, so to help you get started, we're offering special subscription pricing for subscribers of News Affecting The Direct Mailer. For $20, the price of one monthly subscription, you will receive LIFETIME subscriptions to BOTH services. For only $20 you'll unlock all the premium data available only to our subscribers. For your special pricing, contact the CCI webmaster at webmaster@mailcci.com.