John E

WASHINGTON, DC—A future postage rate increase could be delayed until at least 2006 thanks to a review of the United States Postal Service (USPS) employees' retirement plan, says Post Master General John E. Potter. This revelation comes after a review of the USPS' pension liabilities by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. The review found that the current formula contained overly conservative interest assumptions under which the USPS contributes for its employees' retirement, creating an overpayment of pension liabilities. Changes in the payment schedule will require a modification of the current law by Congress. This necessary change in the law would mean a reduction of postal

By Erik Cagle Good news! In October, Postmaster General John E. Potter told the Direct Marketing Association's annual conference attendees that, because of its reform efforts that enabled the USPS to remove $2.9 billion out of its bottom line in fiscal 2002, there would be no rate hikes until "well into 2004." The bad news, of course, is that the general economy and volume reductions in mailings made 2002 a challenging campaign for those companies that provide direct mail solutions from the production end. Thus, in noting that there will be no rate hike in 2003 is akin to pointing out, "At least the