Postal Service Follies: It’s No Laughing Matter –Michelson

In what could end up being a devastating blow to the printing, publishing and direct marketing industries, the Obama administration is said to be in favor of an exigent (emergency), higher-than-inflation increase in postage rates. Periodical class mail rates reportedly would rise by as much as 9 percent, and increase by 5.8 percent for Standard mail, which includes catalogs and other types of direct mail. How ironic, since even the USPS itself had backed off recently on a similar rate hike request it made earlier, this time noting the razor-thin operating margins that these industries are already facing.