Opposition Mounts. An unprecedented coalition of mail industry participants—calling itself the American Mail Alliance (AMA)—is condemning the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) plan to let the U.S. Postal Service increase rates up to 3% above the CPI for five years.

The AMA comprises 50 leading associations, companies, nonprofits, magazines, newspapers, and other stakeholders that have joined together to advocate for a commonsense approach to setting new postal rates, promoting the long-term health and success of the Postal Service, and opposing the radical postal rate increases proposed by the PRC.

In comments filed before the commission, the AMA argued that the PRC’s decision gives too much weight to one of the factors the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) of 2006 required of a ratemaking system—providing adequate revenue—to the detriment of other factors. “Notably, the first stated objective is to maximize incentives to reduce costs and increase efficiency,” the AMA stated, noting that the PRC itself had supported a CPI cap as an indispensable tool to provide incentives for Postal Service management to control costs.