On the Road to Postal Reform

According to Benjamin, if the postal-reform bill passes, rates will not increase greater than inflation in any one year. So, aside from exigency clauses — for example, if the price of oil goes up, postal rates may fluctuate because of the increase in energy costs to the USPS — that allow leeway there, there would be a cap on rates. This keeps rate raises predictable so mailers can plan and budget for them.

“It beats the current system where it’s sort of by guess and by golly,” Benjamin says, adding that he hopes postal reform gives incentive to the USPS to keep costs low, incentive to mailers to mail more efficiently and incentive to the public to want to continue using the mail.

“If it does all those things, then we’ve got a pretty good system. We’ve got a system that ties us together,” he says. “I haven’t found that the Internet can send you a blouse or a shirt or anything else right now through the wire. It’s all got to come back in a physical package. So you need a system of delivery in this country.”

Maynard Benjamin can be reached via www.envelope.org