posted on November 7, 2001 10:52:38 PM
The postal service is going to ask congress for a 6 BILLION dollar bailout.They say expect big increases in Jan.If they raise their priority prices any more they will price themselves right out of the market.
posted on November 7, 2001 10:57:16 PM
They have already asked for the next rate increases (ironically, they were announced on September 11) and the requested rates if accepted will be steep - They want to change priority mail, so anything over 1 pound gets zoned (as opposed to 5 pounds now) which means a 17 ounce package, which cost $3.20 to ship as late as January 2001 may cost as much as something like $7 to ship with the new rates.
However, they won't go into effect by January, except unless they get some special authorization by congress (which I suppose is possible but unlikely) - It takes about 10 months or so from when the Post Office makes a rate increase request to when it is approved, and then more time to go into effect. The 9/11 rate requests (which by the way ask for a 37 cent first class letter) would not go into effect until Fall of 2002. Again, that could change with a congressional mandate, but that is unlikely (Also, this is what the post office is fighting for, the ability to have less bureaucracy when dealing with rate increases to deal with a constantly changing business environment)
