{"id":22955,"date":"2018-03-22T20:32:33","date_gmt":"2018-03-23T01:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=22955"},"modified":"2018-03-22T20:32:33","modified_gmt":"2018-03-23T01:32:33","slug":"postal-pricing-explaining-how-usps-sets-product-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2018\/03\/22\/postal-pricing-explaining-how-usps-sets-product-prices\/","title":{"rendered":"Postal pricing – Explaining how USPS sets product prices"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"priority<\/p>\n
Priority Mail is considered a competitive product, meaning it has substantial direct competition from other delivery providers.<\/em><\/h6>\n<\/div>\n

USPS News Link – 3\/22\/18 – You probably hear a lot about the Postal Service\u2019s \u201cmarket-dominant\u201d and \u201ccompetitive\u201d products, but do you understand what these terms mean \u2014 and why they matter?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what you should know:<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Federal law divides USPS products into two categories.<\/strong>\u00a0Those categories are market-dominant and competitive.<\/p>\n

The market-dominant category includes First-Class Mail; Marketing Mail; Periodicals; Package Services, such as Library Mail; and some Extra Services, such as Certified Mail.<\/p>\n

These products are deemed to be market-dominant as a legal matter because there is generally no direct alternative to USPS for physically delivering them. However, there is substantial competition regarding these products in the form of electronic alternatives, meaning USPS must ensure that these products remain competitive in the marketplace.<\/p>\n

The competitive category covers the kinds of products for which there is substantial direct competition from other delivery providers. This includes Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express and commercial package services, such as Parcel Select.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0There are different rules for establishing prices in both categories.<\/strong>\u00a0Under the law, USPS must seek approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) to change prices for market-dominant products.<\/p>\n

Currently, prices in this category generally aren\u2019t allowed to exceed the rate of inflation. This is often referred to as the \u201cprice cap.\u201d<\/p>\n

USPS has more flexibility to change prices for competitive products, although these products must always cover their attributable costs. The PRC\u00a0reviews<\/a><\/em>\u00a0the Postal Service\u2019s prices to ensure they conform to legal requirements.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0The Postal Service is seeking a better pricing system.<\/strong>\u00a0Last year, the PRC\u00a0determined<\/a><\/em>\u00a0that the current pricing system for market-dominant products isn\u2019t working, in part because it doesn\u2019t allow USPS to be financially stable.<\/p>\n

The PRC\u00a0proposed<\/a><\/em>\u00a0a new system that gives the Postal Service some additional pricing authority, while maintaining a price cap.<\/p>\n

USPS has\u00a0determined<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>this proposed alternative doesn\u2019t give the organization the flexibility it needs to deal with changing market conditions and the competitive business landscape. The Postal Service wants the PRC to exercise after-the-fact regulatory monitoring to ensure its prices are just and reasonable.<\/p>\n

The PRC is expected to issue a final decision regarding the new regulatory system sometime this year.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0More information is available.<\/strong>\u00a0If you want to learn more about USPS pricing, check out the\u00a0Postal Explorer site<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Priority Mail is considered a competitive product, meaning it has substantial direct competition from other delivery providers. USPS News Link – 3\/22\/18 – You probably hear a lot about the Postal Service\u2019s \u201cmarket-dominant\u201d and \u201ccompetitive\u201d products, but do you understand what these terms mean \u2014 and why they matter? Here\u2019s what you should know: \u2022\u00a0Federal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usps-news","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22955"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22956,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22955\/revisions\/22956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}