The Greeting Card Association agrees with your editorial “How to Save the Post Office, Maybe” (April 27) that postal-reform legislation is urgently needed, but differs on what that reform should entail. The USPS is now trending toward a far smaller loss than projected earlier this year, as the improving economy has brought more mail and packages into the system. The USPS plan correctly establishes a break-even proposition, but as USPS finances improve, so should postage rates.
Mailing is not a compulsory activity. When first-class postage increased from 50 to 55 cents in 2019, mailed greeting-card volume plummeted, reversing three consecutive years of growth. Future increases that drive volume out of the system are no solution.
Getting more greeting cards into the mail would help the USPS. Increases in the weight limit for mailed cards, consistent with what is already offered for presorted mail, would do just that, encouraging innovation from card publishers and greater convenience for consumers.
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