As many of you know, last month, President Biden signed into law the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022. This was one of the most critical pieces of postal legislation in modern history, strengthening the U.S. Postal Service, and finally putting it on the path of financial stability.
For years the USPS has struggled, largely due to the high costs imposed by the Postal Accountability and Enforcement Act of 2006, which required pre-funding of postal employee health and retirement benefits for years into the future. The Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 eliminates that mandate. It also ensures six-day delivery, requires more transparency into operations, and maximizes participation in Medicare, (which postal employees have already contributed $34 billion toward).
Postal Reform will save the post office $50 billion over the next 10 years and forgives USPS’s obligation to pay $57 billion in scheduled payments to its retiree health benefits.
The American Catalog Association (ACMA), an organization solely dedicated to lobbying on behalf of ecommerce brands and suppliers that leverage catalogs and direct mail for their businesses, led a 15-year crusade that helped get this legislation passed. Thank you ACMA!
We’re Not Done!
While this is a significant milestone for us, the work of containing postal rate hikes still lies ahead.
What many might not know, is that the USPS is almost completely self-funded and does not receive much in the way of taxpayer dollars. Therefore, while this legislation will ensure that the USPS continues to operate, some rate increases are inevitable. Furthermore, the Postal Rate Commission (PRC) is now abusing their rate increase authority given their latest adjustment, and it is possible we could be looking at 10-15% rate increases over the next 12 months. We need your help to stop them and force the PRC to revisit their 10-year plan now that Postal Reform has passed.
Strength in Numbers – Your support could make all the difference
Get involved! Become an ACMA member! Or as a first step, consider attending the 15th Annual ACMA National Forum to be held in Washington on June 13-15, 2022.
https://catalogmailers.org/product/15th-annual-national-catalog-forum-registration-page/
Learn what the ACMA is doing to keep postal rates down and address other issues that impact us. Get the latest updates on supply chain issues; what can be done to simplify state and local tax processes; and what the ACMA’s action committee is doing to get more manageable federal consumer privacy legislation passed.
This forum provides an excellent opportunity to meet with other business owners, C-level industry executives and members of Congress. It’s a chance to have your voices heard and truly make a difference. Please, don’t miss it!
