The United States Postal Service (USPS) has announced they will be raising postage rates at the end of the month. The average increase for First-Class and Standard mail will be about 2 percent. (The price of the retail one ounce letter stamp is remaining unchanged at 49 cents each.)
The postage increases come with systematically closing down select postal facilities. Our local Bend USPS Office has been on the chopping block a couple times, but the decision has now been finalized. On April 18 the Bend USPS Office completely ceased mail processing operations.
Not only does the increase in postage hurt local business financially but the delay in delivery changes the way companies do business: when they receive revenue, delivering products and payment of vendors and contractors. It is now taking up to three to four days more for mail delivery.
The physical building in Bend will still be open for all retail functions, as well as bulk mail acceptance. However, locally destined mail is now traveling to Portland to be sorted and returned for delivery. The process of sending retail mail to Portland began some time ago, but local mail from bulk mailings was still being sorted locally.
There are two unfortunate impacts of this change. First, the delivery times for locally destined mail will be slower since it must now be routed to Portland for sorting, then returned to Central Oregon for delivery. Ridiculous!
According to Bend Mailing (BMS Technologies) the second and most distressing change is that all Standard and Nonprofit mail that is destined locally will lose the discount that came with submitting mail directly to the local Bend USPS office. The current discount is 44 to 45 cents apiece. Now the only way to receive this postage discount for mail destined for Central Oregon is to ship the mailing to the Portland USPS office.
The postal service began many of these reform policies in an effort to combat insolvency while awaiting congressional postal reform.
The point of these changes is for the postal service to save money, but the process is increasingly cumbersome and just as financially burdensome as sorting the mail here. One way for the postal service to save money is to STOP Saturday delivery and yet it’s almost like a sacred cow that Congress can’t let go of.
If these new rules are hurting your business it’s time to contact your congressional delegation and let them know your concerns.
Senator Jeff Merkley, 541-318-1298, www.merkley.senate.gov
Senator Ron Wyden, 541-330-9142, www.Wyden.senate.gov
2nd District Greg Walden, 541-389-4408, www.walden.house.gov
