According to an advocacy group, the USPS Board is “plotting” an 11.5% rate hike in July. Keep US Posted issued a press release on Friday containing the allegation but providing no details on how it became aware of details about the upcoming July rate change.
Keep Us Posted calls itself a “nonprofit advocacy group of consumers, nonprofits, newspapers, greeting card publishers, magazines, catalogs, forestry and recycling interests, and small businesses.” Its announcement was in response to reports that President Trump had plans to seize control of the US Postal Service and place it under the Commerce Department.
Keep US Posted Executive Director and former Congressman Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.) did not opine on the president’s plans, but called for the president to freeze postal rates, something he currently doesn’t have the authority to do:
“The U.S. Postal Service does indeed need meaningful change, and we stand ready to help with efforts to protect mail delivery. Americans are frustrated with the U.S. Postal Service because it’s essential to our daily lives and the only courier able to deliver for all Americans, yet it has become prohibitively expensive and unreliable for businesses and consumers alike. Our message to President Trump is to freeze the rates. Americans can’t afford the 11.5% July rate hike the board has been plotting. We also need to modernize the structure of USPS so that it is more efficient and accountable. Now is the time to create a more reliable, affordable Postal Service for all Americans.”
The USPS had previously raised rates only once a year, but under Postmaster General DeJoy, now raises rates 3 times a year (January, July, and a holiday-season rate change that generally spans from early October through mid-January when the next rate hike kicks in).
On Tuesday, DeJoy announced his plans to step down, followed by the report on Thursday that Trump intended to fire the Postal Board of Governors and absorb the now independent USPS into the executive branch.
Some online sellers may have been hoping for a Trump rescue of the Postal Service, but the chaos hitting many Federal agencies may give them pause. Stability and reliability are key since sellers are judged by buyers and marketplaces for on-time delivery of their orders.
Yet with DeJoy planning to step down and now rumors of a steep rate increase in 5 months, sellers may still hold out hope that the president can bring stability to an agency on which every constituent relies.
President Trump confirmed he is considering a USPS takeover, but he is focused on the fact it loses money. PBS uploaded the following video to YouTube that shows the president responding to a question about the rumors of the USPS takeover (at minute 2:09):