The Hon. Carolyn Maloney
Chairwoman
Committee on Oversight and Reform
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
The Hon. James Comer
Ranking Member
Committee on Oversight and Reform U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515
September 20, 2021
Dear Madam Chairwoman and Ranking Member Comer:
The undersigned companies and organizations write in strong support of your bill, the Postal Service Reform Act, HR 3076. The goals it would accomplish are vital to the future of the postal system and we urge that it be given Floor time as quickly as possible. We also want to thank each of you for your leadership on this crucial measure, and your colleagues for their support.
We are all part of the huge industry that is reliant upon the Postal Service. In 2019, as you know, the industry collectively generated some $1.6 trillion in revenues and employed approximately 7.3 million workers. From the perspective of mailers, shippers and our supply chain, there is much to commend in your bill, but two changes would be pivotal: 1) repealing the mandatory prefunding of retiree health benefits and integrating postal retirees not already enrolled into Medicare; and 2) codifying the requirement for six days of delivery and an integrated network for both mail and packages. They would be very important steps toward stabilizing the Postal Service financially and encouraging confidence in its delivery system.
While we wholeheartedly encourage moving ahead with your bill, there remains unfinished business on ensuring a stable, predictable and certain postal system. The ability to impose rate increases at multiples of inflation granted by the Postal Regulatory Commission, and now put into place by the Postal Service, threatens small businesses, nonprofits and charities, community newspapers, and many others around the country. Larger businesses are already planning to divert more mail out of the system. And the resultant loss of mail will put more pressure on packages to sustain the network, leading to larger rate increases for them and impacting the Postal Service’s competitiveness.
Further, the slowing of First-Class Mail service will have a dampening effect on its use and, in particular, is a serious concern for mail containing remittances to businesses of all sizes. Periodicals can also ill afford slower service. The result of these excessive rate increases coupled with service slowdowns will be to make the Postal Service’s projection of a major drop in mail volume a self-fulfilling prophecy. At a time when the public’s confidence in USPS has badly eroded, deliberately downgrading mail is counterproductive and not in the public interest.
Circumstances underlying the Commission’s decision to allow above-inflation rate increases have dramatically changed since it closed its record in March of 2020: USPS financial performance is much improved due to higher package volume and a rebound in mail; and Congress granted the Service $10 billion in COVID relief. Now, your bill would reduce USPS financial liabilities by tens of billions of dollars.
Enacting your bill is essential, but please consider additional action to address the serious consequences of these rate increases and service reductions, and ensure that the Commission assesses the impact of your legislation and the other factors boosting USPS’ financial outlook.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service American Catalog Mailers Association Consumer Action
Envelope Manufacturers Association Graphic Arts Association
Great Lakes Graphics Association Graphic Media Alliance
Greeting Card Association
Imaging Network Group (ING)
Mailers Hub
Major Mailers Association
News Media Alliance
National Association of Presort Mailers National Newspaper Association
National Postal Policy Council
National Retail Federation
Package Shippers Association
Printing & Graphics Association Mid-Atlantic Printing Industries Alliance
Printing Industries Association of San Diego Printing Industries Midwest
Printing Industries of New England Printing Industry of the Carolinas
Printing United Alliance
Saturation Mailers Coalition
4Cite Marketing
A Smyth, LLC
Absolute Color Mailplex
AccuZip
AdMail Express
Arandell
Automated Mailing Services
Avanti Press, Inc.
Blue Kite Company LLC
Bluegrass Integrated Communications Boundaryless Marketing
Business Communication Solutions Business Extension Bureau
Calypso Cards
Cardinal Presort Services Limited Cardinal Service Limited
Cathedral Corporation
Charleston Gardens
CharmCat Creative, LLC
CohereOne
Consolidated Solutions Corporate Mailing Services Crown Point Graphics
Data Media Associates Datapage
DM Pros
Domtar
Dupli Envelope & Graphics Eye/Comm
Gardens Alive!
Globe Direct
Go Direct Marketing Hallmark Cards, Inc. Hammacher Schlemmer Hathaway & Lane Direct, LLC HC3
ICS Corporation
Impact Mailing of Minnesota
Japs-Olson
JHL Digital Direct
JLS Mailing Service
Johnson & Quin
L&D Mail Masters
Lakeside Book Company
LSC Communications
Mail Systems Management McVicker & Higginbotham
Midland
O’Brien Insurance Solutions Piedmont Direct
PJ Green Inc.
Potpourri Group, Inc.
PrimeNet Direct Marketing Solutions Quad, Inc.
Quilling Card, LLC
R.R. Donnelley
Rescigno’s Fundraising Professionals Rescigno’s Mailing Solutions
Ricoh USA
Robbin Rawlings Designs, Inc. Rose Hollow Design Inc.
Runbeck Election Services
Sammy Gorin, LLC
She Said It Company
Silver Star Brands
Southwest Publishing & Mailing Specialty Print Communications Sportsman’s Market (Sporty’s) Stationery Trends Magazine Suburban Mailing Services
Summit Direct Mail
The Bradford Exchange
The Paper Fold Podcast
The Paper Nerd
The PLD Group
Think Patented
Tr-Win Direct
Umlaut Brooklyn
Universal Mailing Service
Up With Paper
Vision Direct
W+D North America
Whittier Mailing Products
Wilen Group
Wolverine Solutions Group
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The Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service (C21) consists of public and private companies and industry associations representing newspapers, advertisers, catalogers, e-commerce, parcels, greeting cards, financial services, telecommunications, insurance, paper, printing, technology, envelope manufacturing, and mail services, which understand the essential role of USPS and want it sustained for the future. C21 broadly represents an industry generating nearly $1.6 trillion in sales and supporting 7.3 million private-sector jobs. Learn more at 21stcenturypostal.org.
