USPS Warns of ‘Risky’ Approach to Flats Pricing Policy

The U.S. Postal Service has said it will adopt above-inflation rate increases for its loss-making Standard Mail Flats service each year up to 2016. The move is prompted by the Postal Regulatory Commission’s 2010 order that rates should rise towards full cost coverage.

To make the Flats rate increases without violating its inflation-based price cap, USPS said it would be unable to increase rates for other Standard Mail services by quite as much as it would like.

One key reason USPS has shied away from increasing Standard Mail Flats rates…it would push catalog publishers into finding alternative distribution channels