Following up on our September 21st call to action, which urged you to reach out to Congress to get the Ensuring Accurate Postal Rates Act (H.R. 8781) on an omnibus bill our market dominant coalition Keep Us Posted has since issued a similar call to action that you may find easier to use. Please review it here, then do take action. If you have any questions, call us at 800-509-9514 or email action@catalogmailers.org.
As you may know, ACMA is a member of Keep US Posted — an alliance consisting of consumers, specific businesses, and industry groups, such as the ACMA, the Greeting Card Association, the Association of National Advertisers, and others. The goal of Keep US Posted is a more reliable and affordable Postal Service for users of market dominant mail (letters and flats). In just one year, the organization has amassed a following of nearly 12,000 Americans who stand with us.
With our support, Keep US Posted helped pass this year’s monumental postal reform legislation (the Postal Service Reform Act). The law fiscally stabilizes the Postal Service and was meant to keep postage affordable by integrating future retirees into Medicare. In fact, this postal reform law immediately generated nearly $50 billion for USPS and improved its future fiscal stability by saving it an estimated $100 billion over the next decade.
Now, Keep US Posted is fighting to ensure that Congress holds the Postal Service accountable to postal reform. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the Postal Board of Governors plan to move ahead with historically high postage hikes every six months — a decision which is now completely unnecessary due to the postal reform law. To close this loophole and put a stop to these historically frequent postage increases, Keep US Posted is advocating for new federal legislation called the “Ensuring Accurate Postal Rates Act” (HR 8781). The bill requires the Postal Regulatory Commission to reconsider and thus reduce the current postage rate cap. If we generate enough support in the U.S. House of Representatives, we are hopeful that the legislation’s provisions will be included in the end-of-year spending package.
How YOU Can Help: 4 Simple Steps
- Contact your member of the House of Representatives. Visit the Keep US Posted advocacy platform (here: https://mobilize4change.org/hUUc3e1) and follow the instructions. The platform will take no more than 5 minutes to help you generate an email, make a phone call, and even mention your U.S. House member in a tweet. (You can make even more of an impact by personalizing your message to tell Congress how the postage hikes impact YOU and your business.)
- Visit www.keepusposted.org/involved. On this page is a full Keep US Posted toolkit. It provides background on the postal problems we are all experiencing, as well as a full toolkit to support these efforts. Please take action and share the website with the hashtag #KeepUSPosted on social media. While the link features an image embedded in it, you may also download and use any of these graphics (www.keepusposted.org/icons) to enhance your Facebook/Instagram posts and tweets.
- Contact your colleagues. Forward this note directly to your network of colleagues and friends. Also include this QR code or shareable graphic featuring the Get Involved QR code on any electronic or printed materials.
- Follow Keep US Posted and the ACMA and social media and share/retweet the posts. They are included in the toolkit and accessible directly at www.facebook.com/usposted; www.twitter.com/usposted; and www.instagram.com/usposted.
We can keep the mail affordable and reliable if we use the power of our collective voices. Thank you in advance for taking action!