Is Anyone Listening?

FROM MY EARLIER CAREER AS AN audiologist, I can remember the many corny jokes made about diagnosing and rehabilitating people with hearing disorders. During the past 23 years, though, I've represented those who use the mail for business purposes.

In most recent months our industry has been trying to explain to the U.S. Postal Service why direct mailers need a minimum of 60 to 90 days to accommodate rate case-related changes. Postal officials have said they “hear” us. But as a former audiologist I wonder if they're listening.

The enactment of any significant change in postal rates and classifications goes way beyond some simple adjustments that have to be made to off-the-shelf mail- preparation software. Our industry is getting tired of feeling that the USPS is turning us a deaf ear.

The postal Board of Governors could easily put our worries to rest by declaring that rates won't change until mailers have been given time to prepare.

Oh sure, a lot of postal executives will give the governors an earful about the revenue that will be lost from a delayed implementation. The fact is it's mailers, not postal management, that provide the revenue needed to keep the USPS in line with the law.

Postponing a rate change for a month or two won't break the postal service's back. Any such change could easily be accommodated by filing the next case a month or two earlier. And remember: While the law says the USPS must operate on a break-even basis, that means it should break even over a period of time, not from minute to minute.

R2006 contains the most complicated changes I've ever seen. The USPS' case is far from being a slam-dunk over at the Postal Rate Commission. There's anxiety enough over how any business can swallow a 40% to 90% hike in key postal rates and remain afloat. The last thing anyone needs is the added stress caused by an unnecessarily rushed — and potentially catastrophic — implementation of new rates and rules.

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GENE A. DEL POLITO is president of the Association for Postal Commerce (PostCom) in Arlington, VA.