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The word is out. The Postal Regulatory Commission has issued a schedule of recommended rates that could very well be the death knell for some of our industry's catalogers.

The PRC has decided it's time to complete the phasing in of the letter-flat cost differential created in anticipation of life under postal reform. That means for flat-size catalogs weighing less than 3-1/2 ounces, postal rates could (and most likely will) go up far more than even the U.S. Postal Service had requested.

As you might imagine, those who fared poorly in this case are mad as hell. However, not everyone is unhappy with the PRC's decision. Letter mailers are delighted. Their rates drop lower than the USPS-suggested levels.

But there's another factor to consider. For the past decade, most catalogers have dealt with postal issues as if the latter were contaminated with some communicable disease. They've declined to speak for themselves in favor of tossing the responsibility on their printers' shoulders. Meanwhile, the USPS has been yammering for years about hearing only from “self-serving” printers and not a word from postage rate payers (like catalogers).

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, or so said Isaac Newton. The shifting of postal responsibilities to others was the action. The USPS and PRC's response is the reaction.

We have a postmaster general who's been most explicit in expressing his disaffection for printers serving as proxies for rate payers. If our industry ever needed a wake-up call about how closely its fortunes are tied to postal outcomes, this is it.

Let's hope everyone takes this call seriously and steps up to the plate.