When Will The Postal Rate Hike Take Effect?

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Nov, 2000

Speaking of the new postal rates, a decision will be announced by the Postal Rate Commission in November, but many publishers are wondering exactly when the new rates will go into effect. Jerry Cersale, senior vice president of government affairs for the Direct Marketing Association, recently offered his insights to marketers at the DMA's seminar center.

If his educated opinion is correct, mailers may want to consider adjusting their January mailing schedules. While this might be difficult for magazines, since production schedules are worked out far in advance, it's worth considering. Cersale believes a rate ruling from the U.S. Postal Commission is likely come on November 8 and take effect around January 15. "The date the Postal Service picks for rate increases is almost always on a weekend, and one of the dates they like when they look at January is a three-day weekend, which happens to be around Martin Luther King's birthday holiday. But I would say expect new rates as early as the first weekend in January ," Gersale says. "They won't raise rates before Christmas and probably won't raise rates between Christmas and New Year's--that's the time when the government sends out those wonderful IRS forms. They won't nail the government on that because they are a government agency."