Senators Introduce Bipartisan Postal Service Reform Bill; Would Minimize Rate Increases for Now

“The Postal Reform Act of 2018: Improving Postal Operations, Service, and Transparency” was introduced in the U.S. Senate yesterday as a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by Senators Tom Carper (D-Del.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). If passed, the legislation would make sweeping changes to current rules and regulations that have led, in large part, to the dire long-term financial situation of the U.S. Postal Service, including 11 straight years of net losses and a net loss for its first quarter totaling $540 million – despite the USPS setting a record on Dec. 18, 2017, when more than 37 million packages were delivered, the most packages delivered in a single day in its more than 200-year history.

According to the co-sponsors, the bill would address several issues that have been hampering the Postal Service as mail volumes continue to decline. “The price of postage is decreased pursuant to federal court orders last Congress, eliminating the positive revenue stream from the exigent rate case in 2014. As the result of a compromise among the postal community, the bill restores half of the temporary rate increase while freezing any further rate increases until a new rate system can be finalized by the Postal Regulatory Commission,” the senators wrote.

read more/source: http://www.piworld.com/article/senators-introduce-bipartisan-postal-service-reform-bill-would-minimize-rate-increases-for-now/

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