IT'S TIME TO BOOGIE...SO "LET'S ROLL!"

The following is a perspective by postal commentator Gene Del Polito prepared for DIRECT magazine.

By now, direct marketers should have heard the fantastic news about the Office of Management and Budget's recalculation of the Postal Service's Civil Service Retirement System deferred liability. To make a very long story short, OMB has learned that the investments made for postal retirees over the past 15 years have appreciated sufficiently to reduce the Postal Service's CSRS liability from $32 billion to $5 billion. In essence, this recalculation has the potential of providing the Postal Service with a fiscal windfall that could drastically change its revenue need over the next few years.

The actualization of this windfall, however, hinges on our industry's ability to win from Congress legislation that would change the method the USPS uses to calculate and make its retirement obligation payments--no small task. Succeeding at this endeavor, however, is of the utmost importance.

If Congress were to agree to the changes that are being recommended by OMB, the Office of Personnel Management, and the U.S. Treasury, the USPS would be able to pay down its long-term debt much more aggressively, and there would be no need for any postal rate increases until, at the earliest, 2006!! On the other hand, if this legislation is not in the President's hands by April 2003, the Postal Service will file its previously announced request for another postal rate increase.

I can't emphasize enough the importance of getting everyone in this industry to explain to the President of the United States just how important expeditious congressional action on this matter is for companies that communicate and do business by mail. It's important for the President to appreciate that without this change, the next round of postal rate increases in 2004 could be large enough to bring many companies within our industry to their knees. Businesses such as yours would be unfairly "taxed" with unnecessarily higher postage rates, and this would cause an immediate retreat in spending by businesses that rely on affordable postal rates. Passage of this bill, on the other hand, would ensure stable postal rates, which would facilitate a recovery for our industry. It would be a whale of an economic stimulus.

So if you haven't done it yet, be sure to get out your letter to urge the President to tell Congress it is essential to it approve as quickly as possible the OPM-drafted legislative remedy that will change the manner in which the Postal Service will fund its postal-retiree obligations. It's time to get our economy going, so "let's roll."