ORLANDO — Speaking at his last National Postal Forum as Postmaster General, William J. Henderson told a packed crowd at the keynote session here yesterday that while the U.S Postal Service is going through some tough times, a new rate hike is not a given.
Earlier this year, the USPS announced that it might be filing a rate increase this summer averaging 10 to 15 percent.
However, at the Forum, Henderson hedged, “we’re not taking a potential rate hike as a given just yet.”
Henderson said he asked Deputy Postmaster General John Nolan “to explore alternatives to filing a double-digit rate hike this year.”
Henderson said “I know many of you have said there may be other options here. And John is going to help us take a close look at them.”
After the keynote session, Nolan said that he is working with mailing groups, associations and mailers and looking at possible scenarios, but said, “there is nothing official yet.”
In general, Henderson speech focused on his campaign for postal reform.
“As uncertain as the future looks,” he said. “The means exist to fix this model before we are all faced with a crippling crisis. To fix it will require the most significant innovation we’ve seen in more than 30 years. It will require comprehensive postal reform.”
In closing Henderson said “as I speak to you for the last time as Postmaster General, I pledge to do everything possible to achieve the reform that will preserve our ability to serve you and the nation-affordably, reliably, and universally. Our futures depend on it.”
