Shipping

After nearly 10 years as U.S. Postmaster General and CEO of the U.S. Postal Service, John E. Potter today announced that he will retire on Dec. 3, after 32 years of service.

I don’t know how much more I can do or say about the U.S. Postal Service and its stupidity. I've made all kinds of suggestions on how it can increase its revenues, incentivize companies to try mail and win back customers who have abandoned the channel. I even wrote a fake testimonial letter from an online marketing company thanking the USPS for helping it build their business. And yet the madness continues.

Direct marketers aren't getting slammed with another 5 percent-plus postage rate increase in January. Big whoop-de-doo. Postage is still the biggest expense in all my clients’ mail campaigns. And the cost of mailing vs. the risk of the unknown is still the biggest reason marketers shy away from the direct mail channel.

With yesterday's decision by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to reject a postal rate hike proposed by the U.S. Postal Service, business mailers — and the trade groups that represent them — have reason to celebrate. At least for now.

Postal regulators Thursday denied requests by the U.S. Postal Service to raise postage rates in January beyond the rate of inflation, ruling that the mail agency's recent financial woes were caused by a flawed business model and not the recent recession.

Legislation introduced today by Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) is a roadmap to recovery for the Postal Service, said Postmaster General John Potter. It incorporates many of the key elements we have identified as necessary and essential to allow the Postal Service to meet the changing needs of its customers.

As an online marketer, I want to thank Mr. Postmaster General and the honorable members of the Postal Regulatory Commission. I cannot wait until you raise postage rates come January. Now some people may not agree with me, but I applaud your efforts to consistently raise postage rates. 

Import cargo volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to be up 16 percent in September over the same month last year, but 2010 has already hit its peak and numbers will decline through the remainder of the year, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

If the USPS hasn't done an economic analysis of what will happen to catalog volume and its own profitability from catalogs, then it's fair to say they're being “uneconomic,” which violates the statute governing raising rates under the “exigent circumstances” exception.