United Parcel Service will not object to the U.S. Postal Service's request for a negotiated service agreement with Capital One Services Inc., UPS said in a document filed with the Postal Rate Commission yesterday.
The USPS requested the NSA last month in what would be the first such special rate and service arrangement for the postal service. The postal service says that NSAs will provide pricing incentives that encourage greater mail volume.
“We are looking at all NSAs on a case-by-case basis, and because this is restricted to First-Class Mail and not to other categories, we are not objecting to it,” UPS spokesman David Bolger said. “In this case, we believe that [the NSA agreement] is a testament to what postmaster general [John] Potter has said about the need for the agency to have flexibility … This is not a sea change for UPS. We want to make sure that the postal service gets what it needs to get its finances together.”
Many expected UPS to oppose the request because it previously said in congressional testimony that the postal service should not be allowed to grant NSAs or volume-based discounts.
A pre-hearing conference on the NSA takes place Oct. 23. If the NSA is approved by the PRC and the Board of Governors, the postal service would like to implement it by Feb. 1.
