Category: USPS

Disruption, FedEx, The Postal Industry, U S Postal Service, United Parcel Service - UPS, USPS

Waiting for the Third Shoe?

Many of my fellow 3PL and CEP cohort are anxiously aware of the current UPS / Teamsters negotiations on the UPS national contract (shoe #1.) and the FedEx / ALPA Pilots labor negotiations (shoe #2). But many of you may not know about ‘The Third Shoe’ in this year’s logistics sector cliff hanger – the US Postal Service’s current labor negotiations with its largest workforce segment, OVER 335,000 Letter Carriers delivering mail and packages to 12.7 million business addresses and 152.2 million residential addresses.

So, if even one of the trio shuts down for a few weeks, meaning the ‘brown boxes’ stopped getting delivered, and the ‘purple tails’ stopped flying, and the merry mailman stops ringing you bell this summer, who are you going to call?

NALC and the Postal Service open negotiations for sixteenth collective bargaining agreement | National Association of Letter Carriers AFL-CIO

Cold Chain, Packaging, USPS

USPS Testing Cold Chain Packaging

An interesting story came across our USPS newsfeed this morning about an entrepreneurial SME that started up with USPS assistance. Of particular note, the Postal Service is testing a new package services feature – “Cold Chain Packaging Solution”. The company’s story was originally reported by CBS earlier this year – https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/Sweet-Side-Hustle-Raises-Dough-for-Furloughed-Sisters-504134721.html

For more information on USPS Cold Chain Packaging Solution feel free to contact us directly – theCEPGroup@proton.mail.

U S Postal Service, USPS

Postal Regulatory Commission issues Final Rules on Minimum Contribution of Competitive Products to Institutional Cost

Washington, DC – The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) issued Order No. 4963 adopting final rules for the share of institutional costs that U S Postal Postal Competitive products must contribute. The previous share requirement was 5.5 percent of institutional costs. For Fiscal Year 2019, the PRC has determined the appropriate share as 8.8 percent. 

BACKGROUND

The PRC addressed two general topics that provide necessary background.

First, the Commission described developments in the parcel delivery market and discussed how both the market and the Postal Service’s position in the market have changed since the Commission first set the appropriate share in 2007 and since the Commission last reviewed the appropriate share in 2012.

Second, the Commission discussed the appropriate share requirement and its purpose in the context of the statutory scheme for regulating competitive products.

A copy of the order can be found at https://www.prc.gov/docs/107/107901/Order4963.pdf

Postal Regulatory Comission, USPS

Postal Regulatory Commission Approves Price Changes for USPS Competitive Services

The Postal Service proposes changes in prices of general applicability for certain competitive products. The changes are scheduled to become effective January 27, 2019. The Commission approves the proposed price changes and updates the Mail Classification Schedule (MCS) to reflect the new prices. A draft of the applicable MCS changes is attached to this Order. The complete PRC information is available at

Postal Regulatory Commission Approves Price Changes for USPS Competitive Services

USPS

U S Postal Service to remove overweight items from the postal network

The Postal Service is amending Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) to implement a process to remove overweight items from the postal network.

The Postal Service published a notice of proposed rulemaking on April 20, 2018, (83 FR 17518-17519) to amend the DMM to add a process, which included a fee, for removing overweight items that are found in the postal network. Items that exceed the 70 pound weight limit are nonmailable and are not provided service.

The final rule is scheduled for publication Federal Register Notice (“FRN”) August 29, 2018, the effective date for the rule.

Once it is published it will be available on this page in an official form. Until then, you can download the unpublished PDF version – USPS Overweight Items FRN Rule Notice 2018-18481