The vast majority (97.1%) of around 110,000 voters backed a strike from a 76% turnout of CWU members, representing both one of the largest ‘Yes’ votes and turnouts for many years. Strikes at Royal Mail were averted last year after the postal service agreed to increase pay, reform pensions and reduce weekly working hours from 39 to 35 by 2022, subject to productivity improvements. CWU said the agreement is not being honoured by the company’s new leadership but Royal Mail has said it is abiding by the agreement and has awarded two pay rises since last year.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) recently filed its new pricing for the 2020 postal rate increase among its various mail class products with an average price increase of 1.9% across the board. Pending review by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), the new prices will begin on January 26, 2020. The good news is that while a postage pricing increase is a disappointment for all involved, carrier route mail did not see as dramatic of an increase as other mail classes. We believe this will open up additional opportunities to get involved in a postage cost-savings plan. For catalogers, one of the best ways to achieve this carrier route pricing tier is through co-mailing – which is the process of combining and sorting multiple different titles into a single mail stream it enters into the postal facilities.