On April 16, the Postal Service filed the third version of its new rates and set May 31 as the implementation date, assuming approval by the Postal Regulatory Commission. They are not much changed from the previous versions.
Many nonprofit publications will be hit with increases in postage several times higher than inflation. The primary culprit is increases in Periodicals container charges—as high as 161.8 percent for Bundles and as high as 95.5 percent for Pallets. While container charges are spread over all the publications therein, lightweight nonprofit publications do not benefit much from the reductions in weight charges (pound rates) that USPS used to offset the container increases in order to stay within the 1.966 percent price cap.
The PRC invites comments from interested persons on whether the prices are consistent with the law, no later than April 23.