$2.3 Billion Increase Would Clobber Postal Customers as Service Declines
Washington, D.C., January 27, 2021 – MPA, the Association of Magazine Media, today filed a motion to stay a possible 7.6 percent rate increase that could hit postal customers starting in June. MPA previously asked the Postal Regulatory Commission to withdraw the proposed increase, which violates the inflation-based postal rate cap that is required by law, and also filed suit in federal court to block the increase. Today’s motion asks the court to stay any rate increase until the court issues a final ruling.
“We are petitioning the court to stay a $2.3 billion rate increase that would cause irreparable harm to postal customers,” said Brigitte Schmidt Gwyn, CEO of MPA. “We believe we will prevail in court because the law is clearly on our side,” she added. “We are asking the court to stay any rate increase until the case is fully adjudicated.”
If the proposed rate increase were allowed to take effect, it could cost postal customers an estimated $200 million per month above inflation at current volume levels, or $2.3 billion in the first year. These are costs that cannot be recovered, even if postal customers eventually win their larger case to prevent unlawful rate increases.
“We all want a healthy postal service,” said Schmidt Gwyn. “That’s why MPA has always supported postal reform and modernization. But the fact of the matter is that the postal service currently has $16 billion in cash on hand. There is simply no justification for the proposed increase, particularly in light of the poor service all postal customers are experiencing right now.”
Today’s motion was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in a consolidated case involving several suits filed against the Postal Regulatory Commission by major postal customers, including MPA. A copy of the motion to stay can be found here.