February 15, 2008
Charities Face Postal Increases in May
By Holly Hall
Washington
The U.S. Postal Service has proposed new postage rates for nonprofit organizations and other mailers to take effect on May 12.
Under the proposal, postage for nonprofit standard mail, mostly letter-size pieces, will increase by an average of 0.7 percent, and nonprofit periodical mail will go up by an average of 2.7 percent.
Postage on some pieces of standard nonprofit mail would increase by more than the average: Nonprofit standard parcels and other pieces known as “flats” that cannot be processed in the Postal Service’s automated mail-handling equipment, for example, would increase by 7.6 percent.
The proposed rates are the first to be set under a new system, by which the Postal Service can raise rates annually but is required to keep any increases at or below the rate of inflation.
In setting the new rates, postal officials used the latest 12-month average for inflation, which was 2.9 percent. Nonprofit rates will increase by less than that percentage due to a longstanding law that provides charitable organizations with discounted postage.
Most charities are pleased with the proposed rates, said Anthony Conway, executive director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, which represents some 400 organizations.
In the last postage increase in 2006, he noted, nonprofit postage rose by a much higher average, 6.7 percent.
The Postal Regulatory Commission must still approve the proposed rates.
Commenting is closed for this article.
Previous: Many Americans Say Charity Overhead Costs Are Too High, Study Finds
Next: Novelist Takes Out Ads in National Newspapers to Defend Gift