May 3, 2018

In case you missed our press release about the Task Force, here it is:

Press Release

Nonprofit Mailers Applaud President’s Task Force on our Postal System

Comprehensive Reform is Needed

Washington, DC, April 24, 2018:  The Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers strongly endorses the April 12, 2018 Executive Order of President Trump establishing the Task Force on the United States Postal System. The Task Force envisions very much needed comprehensive analysis leading to a balanced set of reforms taking into account massive changes in communications, technology, and e-commerce.

Nonprofits generate 10 percent of USPS mail volume, and many receive the majority of their donations through the mail. America’s charities, to continue performing vital services, rely on affordable, reliable, predictable mail. Likewise, the United States Postal Service, to remain viable and relevant, depends on the nonprofit sector to create mail content that draws households to the mailbox in support of causes that they feel passionately about. Nonprofit mailers play a vital role in enabling the US Postal Service to fulfill its mission to bind the Nation together.

“We are very concerned that piecemeal efforts to reform our postal system will backfire and lead to a downward spiral in mail volume,” said Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers Board President Jim Asselmeyer. “In particular, the current proposal by the Postal Regulatory Commission would raise postage rates by 30 to 40 percent over the next five years, which would lead to a mass exodus from mail. Our Nation deserves the type of comprehensive reform being sought by the President’s Task Force.”

Past President of the Alliance, Meta Brophy, added, “The Commission is placing the objective of ‘financial stability’ above all others without analysis of the potential impact on volume. Reduced volume would greatly exacerbate financial instability. Our postal system needs some fresh input on improving its financial position in myriad ways, not just by extracting higher rates from captive customers. We are hopeful that the Task Force will take the comprehensive approach that helps USPS to preserve and even grow customers and mail volume.”

Alliance Executive Director Stephen Kearney said, “Partial proposals with excessive rate hikes would devastate America’s nonprofit sector and greatly reduce the good that its members do. We look forward to assisting the President’s Task Force. We appreciate that the Executive Order states that it will consider the views of nonprofit users of USPS services.”

The Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers works to preserve affordable, reliable U.S. Mail so that our Nation’s nonprofit sector can continue to fulfill vital missions. We inform and educate policy-makers, regulators, legislators and nonprofits on anything that affects nonprofits’ use of the U.S. Postal Service, including:

• the importance of mail to nonprofits;
• how organizations qualify for and use nonprofit mail;
• reasonable nonprofit postage rates;
• non-discrimination relative to commercial mailers;
• the external discipline of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) cap on postage increases; and
• reliable mail delivery to help achieve our critical missions.

Formed by a group of nonprofits in 1980, the Alliance is led by nonprofits for the benefit of nonprofits and the regulators and policy-makers who affect their use of mail. We are unique in our laser focus on nonprofit postal rate-payers.

We exclusively represent and inform nonprofits that rely on affordable, effective postal mail to raise funds, communicate with donors, advocate, deliver publications, and achieve our missions. We assert our postal rights at the USPS, via the Postal Regulatory Commission, on Capitol Hill, and in federal court.

The Postal Service depends on nonprofit mail to bolster its volume, to provide quality, diverse content to households, and to support the public policy rationale for a nationwide, universal mail service.