Washington, D.C. – The Greeting Card Association (GCA) issued the following statement today reacting to the news that the United States Postal Service had filed an exigency case:

"The GCA and its nearly 200 member companies are disappointed in today's filing by the Postal Service's Board of Governors," said Rafe Morrissey, GCA's Vice President of Postal Affairs. "Exigency rate increases were meant to respond to extraordinary circumstances and are no substitute for commonsense, structural reforms that will put the Postal Service on sound and sustainable fiscal footing."

"It is our hope that the Postal Regulatory Commission will, as it has in the past, deny this exigency rate increase," Morrissey continued. "Raising rates or cutting critical services will exacerbate the Postal Service's current predicament by driving away much-needed mail volume to other competitors. Pursuing both simultaneously, as some propose, is a recipe for disaster. As the GCA has consistently said, the need to cut essential services or raise rates simply does not exist - and a more commonsense approach should be considered."

In July, the GCA released a report that laid out more than 100 alternative savings options available to put the Postal Service on a sustainable path to financial solvency without cutting essential services or raising rates, drawn from an exhaustive review of existing recommendations from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Postal Service Office of Inspector General (OIG).

"The GCA will continue to proactively inform and partner with all stakeholders to pursue meaningful reforms to the Postal Service that will preserve, strengthen and sustain it for future generations," Morrissey concluded.