Why the Exigent Postal Rate Increase Will Backfire

Given the U.S. Postal Service’s dire financial condition, the 4.3 percent emergency rate increases it announced Wednesday are hardly exorbitant. That won’t prevent the move from being a disaster for the nation’s mail system.

Being part of an industry (magazine publishing) that opposes any exigent increases, I’m not supposed to say this but I will: Mail-dependent companies could probably stomach a one-time extra price increase of less than 5 percent if—and this is a big “if”—it were part of a larger move to put the Postal Service onto a sustainable path.