Big mailers would get bigger break

To the editor:

As Congress considers postal-reform legislation, the U.S. Postal Service has warned that if legislation is not enacted quickly, postage rates will rise to 39 cents for a first-class letter. But a simple truth is overlooked: If the mailing industry and the USPS get their way, the brunt of the increase will be borne by individual mailers and small businesses. Meanwhile, big advertisers and corporations that send billions of pieces each year will pay as little as 10 cents for first-class letters.

Incredibly, the postal service's rate-increase application, filed April 8, proposes to increase the discounts offered to advertising mailers. While announcing to the world that the price of a stamp will rise if action is not taken, the USPS is quietly planning to give corporate mailers an even better deal.

Over the years, the mailing industry has established so-called work-sharing discounts for mailers that presort their mail by bundling it according to destination and adding bar codes. But the discounts far exceed the costs the USPS would incur if it sorted the mail itself.

This corporate welfare drains billions of dollars in revenue from the postal service every year, forcing the USPS to raise postage and leaving the individuals and small business to make up the difference. The postal service's history of universal service is a national treasure, and everyone must pay his fair share.

SEAN KNUPP, President, American Postal Workers Union Local 4088, Cape Girardeau