New Postage Rates – April 17 2011

New Postal Service Pricing Announced

The Postal Service filed new mailing service prices with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). Price increases are limited to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) cap of 1.7 percent, consistent with the Postal Law of 2006. Actual percentage price increases for various products and services will vary. It has been nearly two years since the last increase.

After consulting with key industry association representatives, the new prices would become effective on April 17, giving the mailing community more than 90 days to make the necessary technology and system changes to accurately handle the new prices.

Single-piece, 1-ounce First-Class letters will remain 44 cents with additional ounces increased to 20 cents. The price for mailing a postcard will increase one cent. The overall increase is capped at 1.741 percent – at or below the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index. More detailed pricing information is available online at www.usps.com/prices.* Express Mail and Priority Mail prices were not affected.

Prices for other mailing services, including Standard Mail, Periodicals, Package Services, and Extra Services, also will change. Business mailers will see price increases in a variety of categories.

*Click on the link for “New Prices for Mailing Services April 17, 2011″ for more info or use these links to their PDF files:

• First-Class Mail Commercial: Letters & Flats
• First-Class Mail Retail: Letters** & Flats
• Standard Mail: Letters & Flats
• Nonprofit Mail: Letters & Flats
• All other rates are also available at this link.

** Note: First-Class single piece letters, 1 ounce, will remain at 44¢.

Flats Automation at the USPS Moving Forward

The Northern Illinois District (NID) officially flipped the switch on the first of its Flat Sequencing System machines (FSS) on Monday, January 10, at the Palatine P&DC.

Like train tracks that go on forever, an FSS machine is a very long piece of equipment – almost the size of a football field.

This marks a significant change in how flats are processed.

Similar to what DPS (Delivery Point Sequencing) did for letters, now flats will start coming in delivery point sequence for each carrier route.

The initial towns (zones) scheduled to receive FSS mail will be Arlington Heights, Barrington, Glenview, Highland Park and Palatine.

The first zone to receive FSS flats will be the Barrington Post Office on January 11. Carriers will be able to case the flats for that first day only.  Following Barrington, the other zones will start receiving FSS mail in succession.

FSS is a nationwide initiative designed to improve mail delivery. “FSS will help us sort flat volume more efficiently and reduce our costs,” said Senior Plant Manager Greg Johnson. “It’s going to be one of the most substantial improvements in mail processing that the Postal Service has seen in years.” How much improvement? Unlike DPS, which took years to reach 90 percent saturation in letters, the goal for FSS is more ambitious. Postal officials estimate it will take less time to reach a similar goal for FSS. In many parts of the country, FSS is already processing more than 70 percent of flats successfully.

Coming around the bend to a Post Office near you, the Northern Illinois District has one of the largest inventories of FSS machines with four in Palatine and one in Carol Stream.

The Palatine plant will begin operating the other three machines separately over a period of time, gradually adding more zones, increasing flat volumes, and maintaining quality control.

But not every delivery office will receive FSS mail. Only offices deemed to have sufficient flats volume will be considered.

“The machines need to reach a certain threshold of volume in order to work at the highest efficiency,” said FSS Coordinator Alan Rutherford. “The more mail we feed them, the better they run.”

These processing changes will affect great change at Post Offices where carriers currently sort most of their flats by hand. Eventually they will start to see a decrease of flats being brought to their cases as the mail is sorted in order and ready to be taken to the street. This will decrease time in the office leading to more time on the street. Route adjustments are also expected to come soon after each zone is online an operational.

The targeted date for completing the implementation of FSS is in April when the Carol Stream P&DC fires up the last Northern Illinois District machine.

The FSS Countdown will track these changes with regular updates, explaining how FSS works and its impact within the Postal Service.

 Would you like to see the FSS in action? Join us and the Northern Illinois Postal Customer Council for a tour on February 24, 2011. Visit the NIPCC website for more information and a link to registration. Hope to see you there!

Revenue Generating Ideas for the USPS

A recent article in the Washington Post got me thinking…what are some other ideas the USPS could use to generate income in their lobbies. I’m sure there are a lot of great ideas on how to transform the way they do business in processing, delivery, etc. But what about the retail side of things.

In the article, the USPS recently announced that they would be adding gift cards to their retail product line. Shipping supplies have long been in the lobbies of most locations and many of them have full “stamp” stores wherein they sell postal related gifts (ie: framed stamp art). Some have also added greeting cards to the mix, an idea I stumbled on in 1994 while on a trip to the UK – Royal Mail had already been doing it for years.

When I saw this article it made me wonder what else could they offer.

Years ago UPS and FedEx aligned themselves with store fronts (ie: Kinkos) which I am sure increased their revenue stream. Make copies, print calendars and ship stuff – great combinations!

What about a convenience store? Pick up a gallon of milk on your way home and ship that package to Grandma too.

Standing in line is commonplace in a USPS lobby – why not do it with a cup of coffee? Not sure anyone would want to “hang out” in a coffee shop at the post office – but getting their morning “cup of joe” before (or after) shipping a package might make the trip more enjoyable (and save you from having to drive around to find a Starbucks). And some post offices might be a meeting place in some small towns – so pairing it with a coffee shop might work out in those cases too!

Currently, all revenue plans the USPS wants to try have to be approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission. But they are trying to get Congress to allow them to lessen the restrictions they have in making these kinds of decisions. I think brainstorming with their customers would be a great way to be ready for the day these changes are made.

So what other ideas could we send their way? I’d love to hear what other people have in mind for helping the USPS generate revenue so they can stay in business for years to come!