As most of you have heard, the USPS^® filed an appeal for the exigent rate filing…but they are not in a “wait and see” holding pattern.

In a recent filing, the USPS asked what Consumer Price Index (CPI) is available; this indicates that discussions are occurring regarding a price increase. A Postcom update noted that if the USPS decides to move forward with a CPI-based price increase request, the request will probably be filed with the PRC in February 2011 to take effect in May 2011. The increase requested will likely be between 2 – 3%. Of course, as most of us know, the increase can vary within each class of mail.

Most interesting, though, are incentives and initiatives that were part of the rate case that are now coming back into the light. In the recently filed market-dominant adjustment for January 2, 2011, the USPS included Reply Rides Free for First-Class Mail^® and the Saturation/High Density Incentive for Standard Mail^® as well as the adjustment to the Move Update assessment charge threshold. Also filed as a supplement, the USPS requested to transfer the commercial Standard Mail parcels category to the Competitive Services product list, stating that the best course of action would be to move only commercial Standard Mail parcels to the competitive product list and leave the Standard Mail NFMs under the market-dominant product list until the next statutory price cap change.

For more information, you can locate the filings at http://pe.usps.com/FederalRegisterNotice/Index.