WASHINGTON – People using flat-rate priority mail boxes are getting a bit of a break.
Mailing the boxes will cost $8.95, regardless of weight, when the new postal rates take effect May 14, the postal Board of Governors announced last week.
The Postal Regulatory Commission had recommended an increase to $9.15, from the current $8.10 charge.
The Postal Service asked the commission to reconsider and reduce the charge to under $9, and the commission agreed to the lower rate, the agency said.
The governors also said the commission has agreed to permit a 17-cent surcharge for odd-shaped first-class mail that cannot be handled by machines, regardless of weight. The commission originally had limited the surcharge to items weighing one ounce or less.
The board also received a report from postal chief financial officer H. Glen Walker that the agency had a $925 million net loss during Jan. 1 to March 31, due largely to expenses relating to the implementation of the postal reorganization law signed on Dec. 20.
Revenue for the period was $18.5 billion, down 0.8 percent from the same period last year. The decrease resulted from a 0.6 percent drop in mail volume.
Expenses totaled $19.4 billion, up $1.6 billion, or 9.2 percent, over the same period last year. The largest contributor to the expense increase was $1.35 billion for the funding of retiree health benefits required by the new postal law.
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