February 26, 2009 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The U.S. Postal Service has called for postage increases on nonprofit and other types of mail to take effect on May 11.
Under a 2007 law, nonprofit postage rates can increase annually by an average of no more than the rate of inflation, which was 3.8 percent last year.
However, certain types of charity mail would increase by more than the rate of inflation and others by less under the proposed changes. In the case of nonprofit “standard” mail, as it is known, for example, postage for letters would increase by 3.8 percent, while larger pieces known as flats would cost 2.3 percent more to mail.
Steeper increases are proposed for nonprofit parcels and other materials that cannot be processed by the Postal Service’s automated mail-handling equipment. Postage for such mail would increase by 16.4 percent, on average.
The recommended increases for larger mail pieces follow two years of steeper-than-average postage increases for those types of mail. As a result, many charities have replaced packages of greeting cards and other mailings with smaller pieces that can be handled by the service’s automated equipment and are cheaper to mail.
Expected Changes
Nonprofit direct-mail experts said that, for most charities, the proposed rates are in the range of what nonprofit organizations have been expecting.
However, the Direct Marketing Association is planning to petition the Postal Service’s Board of Governors, the body that proposed the rate increase, and ask it to reconsider raising postage this year.
Jerry Cerasale, the association’s senior vice president for government affairs, said that, with its mail volume and revenues plummeting because of the bad economy, the Postal Service might do well to delay a postage rate increase. Current law allows the service to avoid postage increases for up to three years.
“Looking at the economic realities, this is probably not the time to be raising rates, especially if you are trying to get volume up,” Mr. Cerasale said. “We will urge the Board of Governors to change the effective date, hold off for one year or until the economy turns around.”
The rate increases proposed by the Postal Service must still be approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission.
