The U.S. Postal Service filed a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, yesterday asking it to stay provisions in the Postal Regulatory Commission’s order granting the exigent rate increase. As conditions of its approval, PRC had required that USPS report incremental and cumulative revenue generating from the surcharge 30 days after the end of each quarter. In addition, it requested receipt of a proposal for the removal of the exigent increase no later than May 1. The Postal Service holds that timing of the reports would be premature.
In January, USPS filed a petition with the court to review the PRC’s exigent order. Should the court approve its request to remove time limits on the exigent increase, says the Postal Service, authoring a plan for its phase out would be wasted effort. “For the same reason,” reads a USPS official statement, “filing quarterly reports concerning the Postal Service’s progress in collecting the exigent surcharge is equally premature and unwarranted.”
The Postal Service’s statement added that, should the court uphold the original order, USPS would take appropriate steps to comply with the reporting provisions.
