• Multichannel Merchant Weekly, Monday, December 11, 2006 11:30 AM

Congress passed the first major overhaul of the Postal Service since the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970. The Postal Reform And Accountability Act (H.R. 6407) now awaits President Bush's signature.

Among the more dramatic reforms are a rate-increase cap that ties future postage increases to the rate of inflation and strict criteria regarding conditions for emergency rate increases. The bill will not affect the pending postal rate case, however, itself a fairly sweeping act of reform regarding how the U.S. Postal Service charges for services. The pending rate changes are expected to go into effect in the spring.

The sweeping reform bill wasn't introduced until Dec. 7. The new bill was necessary because the bipartisan conference committee could not agree on the original reform bill, H.R. 22.

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