Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has killed a 30-year-old program that allowed some businesses to send packages at sharply discounted postage rates.
The death of the so-called “postage reselling” program was disclosed July 5 by Capitol Forum, a Washington, D.C., news organization.
In 2017, Capitol Forum first questioned if the program’s discounts were going to unqualified mailers.
David Partenheimer, a United States Postal Service spokesman, acknowledged in a July 9 email to Linn’s Stamp News that the program was being shuttered.
“The Postal Service undertook an evaluation of its reseller program and has determined that the program as currently structured is not resulting in the customer benefits and efficiencies that were originally envisioned, has caused difficulties in monitoring compliance with pricing and other terms, and should be discontinued,” he said.
Capitol Forum said the program is scheduled to end Oct. 1.
It predicted this would impact a number of companies, including Stamps.com and Pitney Bowes, which have been offering the discounted prices to customers.
The postage reseller program was created in 1992, to provide discounts to smaller mailers that did not qualify for the discounts the Postal Service offered to larger mailers. The program allowed large mailers to share some of their lower prices with smaller mailers in hopes of boosting overall parcel volume.