U.S. Postal Service loses bid to raise rates

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"U.S. regulators on Thursday denied the beleaguered Postal Service an average 5.6 percent rate increase it had requested to help its financially ailing operations cope with the impact of the recession.

The Postal Service had proposed raising the price of a first-class stamp to 46 cents from 44 cents.

The Postal Regulatory Commission, the independent agency that oversees the mail service, said postal officials failed to demonstrate that the global recession was responsible for the agency's multibillion-dollar shortfalls.

"(A) commission analysis confirms that the Postal Service's cash flow problem is not a result of the recession and would have occurred whether or not the recession took place," the regulator said in a statement.

"It is the result of other, unrelated structural problems and the proposed ... rate adjustments would neither solve nor delay those problems."

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68T54Z20100930

[doc03]

1. Stop Saturday deliveries and close tiny little post offices n/t

[WinkyDink]

2. One more example fo the US's becoming 3rd World.