Chanhassen, MN (January 19, 2004) - Congressman John Kline (R-MN) recently visited The Instant Web Companies (IWCO), an integrated direct mail services company, to demonstrate his support of IWCO's position on PL108-18, the Postal Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) Funding Reform Act of 2003. The purpose of his visit was to see first-hand the industry and its workers who would be impacted if the issue was left unresolved. In late November, Jim Andersen, IWCO President and CEO, met with Minnesota legislators to gain support for legislative action to correct shortcomings in PL108-18, mostly concerning the funding of postal employee military pensions and the escrow of retirement "savings" (i.e. the difference between the corrected and uncorrected annual payment for CSRS retirement). The Washington, D.C. meetings included Congressmen Kline and James Oberstar, Senator Mark Dayton, and Joseph V. Kennedy, General Counsel of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, on behalf of Senator Norm Coleman. Andersen, as part of a delegation from Printing Industry of Minnesota, also recently met with Senator Coleman in St. Paul, Minn. to discuss the CSRS issue. "I share the concern of The Instant Web Companies regarding the solvency of the postal retirement system and the inequitable funding of postal employee military pensions," said Congressman John Kline. "I am working with Congressman John McHugh (R-NY), the immediate past chairman of the Postal Service Subcommittee and the current chairman of the Special Panel on Postal Reform and Oversight, to resolve this issue in an upcoming postal reform bill, which will have a provision to eliminate the escrow account and allow the United States Postal Service to operate under the new retirement payment formula." "We commend Congressman Kline on his responsiveness to the industry and the people potentially impacted by this issue," said Jim Andersen, IWCO President and CEO. "It is vital for Congress to realize the devastating effects PL108-18 would have on the entire industry." The CSRS Act resulted in a policy change transferring $27 billion in postal employee military pension payments from taxpayers to postage ratepayers. Kline and IWCO support legislation that would return responsibility for these payments to the Treasury Department as is the case for all other government agencies. The CSRS Act also created a revised retirement funding formula that requires billions of dollars to be held in escrow causing postage costs to rise sooner and by a larger amount. Business mailers could expect an increase in postage rates in 2006 of more than 10 percent (double the anticipated increase without the escrow provision), and additional increases would occur for every year the escrow account is maintained. Left unresolved, the CSRS issue is expected to lead to double-digit postage increases, which often results in reduced mail volumes affecting paper companies, printers, envelope manufacturers and mailers - companies that provide 9 million jobs, $900 billion in commerce and 9 percent of the gross domestic product. The Instant Web Companies, headquartered in Chanhassen, MN, has served the needs of North American direct marketers for more than 34 years. IWCO provides direct mail like no one else by seamlessly integrating direct mail services from a primary campus resulting in streamlined production for all components - printing, plastics, envelope conversion and mailing. IWCO's industry experience and technology along with proprietary IWCO P.O.S.T. (Postal Optimization Strategy and Technologies) and RideShare(tm) commingling and logistics management programs deliver dramatic postage savings and faster time to market.