The United States Postal Service Appeals Rate Increase Rejection

Note: This is a summary of a past NPTtv story about how the USPS rate increase for 2011 was denied.

The Unites States Postal Service (USPS) is appealing the decision by the Postal Regulatory Commission, or PRC, to reject USPS's rate increase. As part of the appeal of the fact that it had its proposed rate increase denied, USPS claims that the PRC misread the statute and applied an "incorrect standard in evaluating the request" for the price increase. The Postal Regulatory Commission's denial of the proposed average 6.5% hike represents that first time it has ruled on an exigent rate case under the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006.
The postal service concluded its third quarter in June with a net loss of $3.5 billion compared with 2.4 billion at the end of the same quarter in 2009. USPS also decreased costs by $6 billion last year. The proposed rate increase would have generated an estimated $2.3 billion in revenue for USPS in 2011, according to their assessment.