USPS reason for filing the petition|
the United States Postal Service seeks rehearing en banc of a decision dated June 11, 2013, of a panel of this Court. Rehearing en banc is sought because the panel incorrectly resolved a question of exceptional importance under the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (“PAEA”), Pub. L. No. 109-435, 120 Stat. 3198 (2006): whether the rates the Postal Service’s charges for its two most significant market-dominant products are governed not by the market- and cost-based factors that Congress intended and set forth in the PAEA, but instead by a provision governing rate discounts for “worksharing” that, by its terms, cannot be extended to govern the relative rates of separate postal products.
The “workshare discount” provision, codified at 39 U.S.C. § 3622(e), is a limited command that applies to a specific situation: where the Postal Service offers a mailer, in exchange for the mailer doing certain tasks that the Postal Service otherwise would do, a “rate discount” (i.e., a price break) from the rate ordinarily charged for one of its products.
By interpreting the provision as effectively overriding the pricing principles set forth in the PAEA, and by mischaracterizing the nature of the products at issue, the panel’s opinion has undermined Congress’s terms, cannot be extended to govern the relative rates of separate postal products. The “workshare discount” provision, codified at 39 U.S.C. § 3622(e), is a limited command that applies to a specific situation: where the Postal Service offers a mailer, in exchange for the mailer doing certain tasks that the Postal Service otherwise would do, a “rate discount” (i.e., a price break) from the rate ordinarily charged for one of its products.
By interpreting the provision as effectively overriding the pricing principles set forth in the PAEA, and by mischaracterizing the nature of the products at issue, the panel’s opinion has undermined Congress’s goal of providing the Postal Service with enhanced flexibility to charge market-responsive rates for its market-dominant services and has effectively imposed the very cost-of-service ratemaking regime that Congress repealed in 2006. petition for rehearing en banc –
The Presort Leeches have been making a killing in profits by paying less than minimum wage to employees with no medical insurance while exposing them to unsafe work environments. Postal Management salaries are to reflect the same as public/private mail companies which means postal management needs to take a 50% pay cut to equal the comparable salaries of those presort mail companies. Fat chance that will happen. The USPS did not get the answer they wanted so now they want a rehearing. The Lobby for Presort Mailers are not happy. How does it feel to be pinched?