Delivery Confirmation also is now offered. Lastly, First Class mail increases 2 percent to 4 percent in general, with the single piece first ounce rate increasing one cent. The Post Card rate remains 20 cents. This would grant the USPS and the PRC more latitude in the rate-setting process. The Postal Service starts the process by filing a rate case for, as the PRC usually proves, more money than it needs in order to operate.
Customers react to the filing, and in the rate case at hand, they reacted vocally and negatively.
Competitors of the Postal Service react much differently. A 10-month litigation period also begins when the Postal Service submits its filing. After almost a year of arguments about issues and rates, the PRC renders its decision. Customers of the USPS feel like they've accomplished something by making their case in the proceedings, albeit while running up millions of dollars of fees for legal and econometric consultation services. Meanwhile, the USPS competitors continue to cry foul, and the Postal Service ends up getting enough money to cover its operating costs.