The Postal Rate Commission issued new rules last week governing how negotiated service agreements between the U.S. Postal Service and its customers get renewed or changed.
The PRC will not automatically assume that an existing NSA is profitable to the postal service and does not discriminate against other postal customers, the PRC said. It will be up to the USPS and the customer with which it has an NSA to prove that the agreement will continue to be successful.
Companies that have benefited from NSAs, such as Bank One Corp., pushed the PRC to make the process for renewing or changing the agreements as swift as possible. However, the PRC in its May 26 ruling retained an active role in reviewing NSA change and renewal requests.
The PRC also ruled that proponents of renewing or changing an existing NSA must bear the burden of proof that the NSA complies with postal laws. Some companies that have benefited from NSAs argued that it should be up to opponents of the agreements to prove that the law had been violated.
The PRC also set a time limit for issuing a recommendation on NSA renewals and changes. The PRC must issue a recommendation within 45 days if no hearing on the renewal or change request is held, and 90 days if a hearing is held.
The full text of the PRC ruling is available at prc.gov/docs/44/44427/Order1439.doc.
Scott Hovanyetz covers telemarketing, production and printing and direct response TV marketing for DM News and DMNews.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters
