Postal

If you don't take the time to take action for the good of the sector, you are essentially condoning its deterioration. Heed Angel's advice. Do your part. Visit www.dmaaction.org and make your voice, your organization's voice, your beneficiaries' and donors' voices heard. Without your help, there will be organizations that suffer, people whose needs won't be met, and all the great work your organizations do will be weakened.

The U.S. Postal Service ended the first three months of its 2012 fiscal year (Oct. 1 – Dec. 31, 2011) with a net loss of $3.3 billion. Management expects large losses to continue until the Postal Service has implemented its network redesign and down-sizing and has restructured its health care program.

The Great Recession failed to destroy the strong fabric of nonprofit organizations in America. We buckled but did not break. But now our own government is threatening to do what even the disastrous economy couldn't: undermine the financial viability of nonprofits in America.

The cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service said Monday it is seeking to move quickly to close 252 mail processing centers and slow first-class delivery next spring, citing steadily declining mail volume. The cuts are part of $3 billion in reductions aimed at helping the agency avert bankruptcy next year. It would virtually eliminate the chance for stamped letters to arrive the next day, a change in first-class delivery standards that have been in place since 1971.

Members of the Direct Marketing Association and DMA Nonprofit Federation headed to Capitol Hill with the DMA Government Affairs team to participate in DMA’s Postal Hill Day, meeting with key Congressional leaders to ensure that the interests of marketers are safeguarded as the postal reform debate heats up. 

DMA members from the nonprofit community traveled to express their concern with postal legislation issues. Nonprofit mailers highlighted the dire consequences they — and their beneficiaries — would experience if Congress fails to safeguard the nonprofit postal rate preference.

The U.S. Postal Service ended its 2011 fiscal year with a net loss of $5.1 billion. The year-end loss would have been approximately $10.6 billion had it not been for passage of legislation that postponed a congressionally mandated payment of $5.5 billion to pre-fund retiree health benefits.

Total 2011 mail volume declined by 3 billion pieces, or 1.7 percent, from 2010. The Postal Service’s largest and most profitable product, First-Class Mail, continued its year-over-year decline, from $34.2 billion in 2010 to $32.2 billion in 2011 (5.8 percent).

Charities are protesting Congressional plans to gradually phase out the discounts they receive for mail appeals and other materials.

Today nonprofits pay 26 percent less, on average, than businesses to send direct-mail solicitations and other communications to supporters. Those mailings are important for many big groups; while electronic appeals have taken off in recent years, few large nonprofits have found anything as effective for fund raising as direct mail.

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has filed a notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) of its plan to increase rates by an average of 2.133 percent on each of the market dominant classes of mail, including First Class, Standard and Periodicals mail.  These rates changes are set to take effect on January 22, 2012.

A House of Representatives panel on Wednesday approved a bill that would end Saturday mail delivery by the U.S. Postal Service and establish a process that could lead to worker layoffs at the cash-strapped agency.

The Postal Service has seen mail volumes plummet in recent years as more customers send email and pay bills online.

The agency has said it needs to reduce payrolls by about 220,000 by 2015 and is studying thousands of post offices and about 300 processing facilities for possible closure.

President Barack Obama says the U.S. Postal Service should be allowed to reduce mail delivery to five days a week to help cut its massive losses. The Postal Service lost $8.5 billion last year and is facing even more red ink this year as the Internet siphons off large amounts of first-class mail and the weak economy reduces advertising mail.