Postal rates will increase 5.4%, effective Jan. 8.
Did you hear the news yet? What do you think about this increase?
Many ebayers will be impacted by this increase and online merchants with physical products will suffer. One great thing about working from home, having no physical products to deliver is definitely an advantage for affiliate marketers.
Anyway, here is the news…
News Flash: Postal Governors Approve Rate Hike
By John Fischer
It’s official: Postal rates will increase 5.4%, effective Jan. 8.The governors of the U.S. Postal Service agreed on Nov. 14 to officially accept the Postal Rate Commission’s Nov. 1 recommended increases.
Though this increase is the first since 2002, it’s unlikely that another four years will pass without another rate hike. The Postal Service is said to already be planning to file for another increase, to be implemented in 2007.
“The decision, although it was clearly expected, may be the first in a series of annual postal rate increases,” says Bob McLean, executive director of the Arlington, VA-based Mailers Council. “If Congress does not enact postal reform, these increases could go on for years to come.” McLean expects the USPS to file its next rate case as early as March 2006, with another mid-single-digit increase almost certain to be approved. The General Accountability Office (GAO) has warned the mailing community that this continued spiral of postal rate increases is likely to continue if reform is not enacted, he adds.
Among the rate hikes:
First-Class Letter (1 oz.): from $0.37 to $0.39
First-Class Letter (2 oz.): from $0.60 to $0.63
Priority Mail (1 lb.); from $3.85 to $4.05
Express Mail (0.5 lb.): from $13.65 to $14.40
Express Mail (2 lb.): from $17.85 to $18.80
“Targeted” Bulk Mail (five-digit presort, 9-oz. flat): from $0.54 to $0.57
November 17th, 2005 at 9:26 am
Its time to take US mail delivery private. I know, its been talked about for many years - but its time…
I dont know about anyone else but my mail arrives late* and quite often damaged - sometimes to the point where its got a “USPS Damaged Mail” stamp over the area they attempted to repair.
* Late being defined as I send two pieces of identical sized/weight items to the identical address many states away and one of those items, invariably, will take upwards of 3 or 4 additional days to arrive. Why? I need to know this. Why, also, cant they guarantee that my overnight package, when mailed at 10am, will arrive in a city the next day by CLOSE OF BUSINESS when that city is a mere 4 hours drive time away?? Case in point: I mailed Priory Mail from City-A to City-B and if you’re driving like Grandpa on the Interstate and stop often, it will take you 4.5 hours. My “priorty” package wasnt oversized or overstuff and was mailed at 10am on Day-1. It should have arrived in City-B on Day-2 by at least 4pm - no? No. It arrived in City-B at 3:30pm on Day-3. I asked for a refund or credit toward addition services and they actually laughed. “There’s no guarantee”.
So, I personally could have left City-A after breakfast, driven that package to the individual in City-B, who requested it, stop for a late lunch in City-B and would have returned to City-A before rush-hour was over ON THE SAME DAY.
This is ONE of many examples that I personally have.
So, tell me, is it fair to say that while you stand on line at your local USPS office and watch the ONE clerk move about as slow as a turtle while the line is continually backed up 10-15 people, do you ask yourself why use the USPS anymore at all?
Well, 2005 was a transitional year for me and the USPS. I have been using online-everything and receive hardly any paper from the USPS anymore. Beginning in 2006 I will fully utilize the online services of every business I deal with and if I must mail something tangible, I will use any alternative and completely cut-out the USPS. Its not worth it. Now, all of the USA cutting out the USPS. They’d get the hint real fast. We DONT need them.
They’ve done this to themselves.