USPS Notices
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June 8, 2020 In this issue … USPS Proposes Temporary Discount for Retail EDDM. Helping re- Senate Panel Hears from Board Nominees. No gaffes were commit- tailers can bring business to mail producers. Page 5. ted, so confirmation is all but assured. Page 1. April Results Show COVID Impact. Package volume keeps the red Another Bill Filed to Help USPS, Same Chances for Success. An- ink from getting even deeper. Page 6. other proposal likely to go nowhere. Page 2. Miscellany. PRC approves market test; Retirement and replace- Ready or Not, the California Consumer Privacy Act Is Here. Com- ment; Amazon grows air capacity. Page 8. mercial mail producers need to know their exposure. Page 3. All the Official Stuff. Federal Register notices, Postal Bulletin arti- Lack of Transportation Impacting International Mail. The USPS cles, DMM Advisory and Industry Alert postings. Page 9. turns to ships in the absence of air capacity. Page 4. Calendar. Scheduled events and more. Page 11. USPS Plan to End Customized Postage Meet Resistance. What Special Section: USPS Alerts and Notices Related to COVID-19. seemed like a simple idea has hit opposition. Page 5. Relevant documents and notices from the USPS. Page 13. ` Senate Panel Hears from Board Nominees The resignation of David Williams from the Postal Service’s Sounding open to working with the Postal Service’s unions, Board of Governors last month, followed by the departure of “both nominees spoke of the importance of the USPS work- Deputy PMG Ron Strohman on June 1, left the Board again force and vowed to engage it in future decision making.” without a quorum and forced it to transfer its duties to a Moak added that “Workers, labor and management work- “temporary emergency committee” pending the addition of ing collaboratively together is a key element of success.” more governors. That possibility became more likely last Just the same, the report noted, “when pressed for details week when the Senate Homeland Security and Governmen- on improvement plans, the nominees often resorted to vac- tal Affairs Committee held a confirmation hearing for two in- uous rhetoric and repeated talking points.” Moak readily dividuals nominated to the Board by the president. acknowledged he’s “not a postal expert.” Zollars ventured William Zollars, nominated December 10, 2019, for a term a little farther, saying that he’s “learned that there are expiring December 8, 2022, is currently the CEO of YRC some very complex problems” facing the USPS. Interest- Worldwide, previously known as Yellow Freight System. He ingly, “he repeatedly noted that in his last job he was often holds a BA in Economics from the University of Minnesota asked whether he wanted to cut costs or improve service and serves on the board of directors of three corporations. and his ‘answer was always yes,’ meaning the two pro- Donald Lee Moak, nominated March 2 for a term expiring posals were not mutually exclusive.” December 8, 2022, holds a degree from the University of The report stated that both nominees claimed they would West Florida and previously served as a Marine Corps and “bring all stakeholders together to put together a business Navy fighter pilot, a B-767 Delta Air Lines captain, and as plan and that the mailing agency would have to realize ben- President of the Air Line Pilots Association. He now leads the efits from that plan immediately.” Moak Group, a public affairs firm. On the president’s pet issue of raising rates for parcel ship- Saying the right things pers, “Zollars again avoided detail, saying the agency must As reported by Government Executive, both nominees told ‘deliver service that is acceptable to the customer at an ac- committee members that “they had little familiarity with the ceptable price.’” He also opined that the Postal Service intricacies of the Postal Service” but “repeatedly pledged to “should reduce its physical footprint around the country, learn and engage in research when asked questions from but must do so without affecting its output for customers.” lawmakers about what prescriptions they had to improve the Given the partisan alignment of the committee and Senate cash-strapped agency’s financial standing.” leadership and the administration that submitted the nomi- “‘I am not a postal expert and I am still only at the beginning nations, it’s likely that both nominees will be confirmed by stages of understanding the Postal Service’s current chal- a floor vote expected later this week. lenges,’ Moak said, adding he would draw on his experience Of the resulting six Board members, its chairman, Robert solving complex issues requiring engagement from stake- Duncan, with only about 21 months service, will have the holders with different agendas.” most tenure. They’ll be joined shortly by brand-new PMG “Zollars said his private sector experience helping to turn Louis DeJoy and a Deputy PMG not yet selected. The politi- around YRC Freight would help him learn quickly on the job cal undertones of the group, combined with their absence at USPS. ‘Although I do not have an in-depth knowledge of of knowledge about the USPS and little context for what the Postal Service, I am anxious to learn as much as possible,’ senior postal executives will tell them, would tend to rein- Zollars said, noting he would focus on how to leverage areas force concerns in the postal community about the direc- of the agency’s competitive advantage.” tions the Board will take in governing the Postal Service. Mailers Hub News 1 June 8, 2020 Another Bill Filed to Help USPS, Same Chances for Success In any of the legislative actions proposed over the past sixty Bills vs results days to help the Postal Service were actually to be enacted, Although legislators often speak about bills they plan to in- the agency’s circumstances might be much better than they troduce, or expound about what Congress needs to do, a are – since none of the ideas have actually materialized. better measure of action (vs. talk) is to see what measures Nonetheless, hope apparently remains because yet another actually get filed and, of that number, how many become bill to help the USPS was introduced late last month. law. In fact, the talk-vs-action ratio is high, and the rate of HR 7015, dubbed the Postal Preservation Act, was filed May enactment of bills is low. th 26 by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (NY 12 ), chair of the House A quick search on Congress.gov for legislation about “Postal Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and re- Service” reveals that, so far (through June 4) in the 116th ferred to her committee and the Committee on the Budget Congress, there have been 197 bills introduced concerning for further consideration. The bill was cosponsored by Rep. nd th the Postal Service, 150 in the House and 47 in the Senate, Peter King (NY 2 ) and Rep. Gerald Connolly (VA 11 ), chair not counting bills that referred tangentially to the USPS as of the Subcommittee on Government Operations and a fre- part of a proposal on another matter. quent ally of Maloney on postal issues. Seventeen resolutions also have been introduced, 12 in the A BILL House, five in the Senate; none have been agreed to in the To provide financial stability to the United States Postal Service dur- House, and only three have been agreed to by the Senate. ing the coronavirus pandemic, and for other purposes. Of the bills, 96 have concerned naming postal facilities, Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, eleven were about voting or voting by mail, fourteen con- cerned USPS semipostal stamps, and four were about provid- SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. ing a unique ZIP Code for a community. This Act may be cited as the “Postal Preservation Act”. SEC. 2. APPROPRIATIONS FOR POSTAL SERVICE IN RESPONSE TO The remaining 72 addressed a wide variety of topics, includ- CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC. ing general appropriations; postal banking; retaining six-day (a) IN GENERAL.—There is appropriated, out of any money in the delivery; restoring the 2012 service standards; buying elec- Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the fiscal year ending Sep- tric delivery vehicles; changing the investment strategy for tember 30, 2020— the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund; allowing beer (1) for an additional payment for “United States Postal Service—Pay- and wine to be shipped by mail; the rights of postal workers ment to the Postal Service Fund”, $25,000,000,000, to remain availa- or supervisors; or restricting the flow of narcotics, cigarettes, ble until September 30, 2022, to the Postal Service Fund for revenue or other items in the mail. forgone due to coronavirus; and (2) for an additional amount for “United States Postal Service—Office Only four, including HR 7015 (above) dealt with the financial of Inspector General—Salaries and Expenses”, $15,000,000, to re- challenges facing the Postal Service: main available until expended, to prevent, prepare for, and respond • HR 2382, the “USPS Fairness Act,” introduced April 29, 2019, by to coronavirus, domestically or internationally. Rep. Peter DeFazio (OR 4th), and the companion bill, S 2965, intro- (b) EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.—The amounts appropriated by sub- duced December 3, 2019, by Sen. Steve Daines (MT), to eliminate section (a) are designated by the Congress as being for an emergency the prefunding requirement. requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Balanced • HR 6425, the “Protect our Post Offices Act, introduced March 31, Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 and shall be avail- 2020, by Rep. Joe Neguse (CO 2nd), would appropriate $25 billion able only if the President subsequently so designates all such to the Postal Service “to remain available through FY2022 for rev- amounts and transmits such designations to the Congress.