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The US Postal Service’s well-documented financial woes brought out surprising harmony between members of two long-time adversaries, the largest postal union and the mailing industry. At the ACMA’s National Catalog Forum on April 27th in Washington, a session between veteran mailing industry attorney Ian Volner, a partner with Venable LLC, and James Sauber, chief of staff of the National Association of Letter Carriers, appeared together in a session set up to be an oil-meets-water debate about how the upcoming 10-year review of the postal rate-making system should proceed. Instead, they largely agreed with one another on a several ways to fix the USPS.

Chief among these was retaining the CPI-capped rate-setting process, which Mr. Volner and catalog mailers are hoping will be retained following the rate review. “The predictability and stability of the rate cap works,” Sauber concurred. “We all know what to expect.”

Perhaps even more striking is Sauber’s favoring passage of legislation to remove the current requirement forcing the USPS prefund its retirees’ healthcare benefits in perpetuity. This equals to the union actually seeking lesser healthcare benefits for members – all for the greater good of the Postal Service.

(For further information, The Dingley Press encourages you to contact Paul Miller at the ACMA, 914-669-8391 pmiller@catalogmailers.org .)

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