USPS wants former CFO to explain himself

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The USPS doesn’t appear to be pleased that its former Chief Financial Officer Mike Riley testified on behalf of the NALC in opposition to the service’s plan to eliminate Saturday delivery. It has filed interrogatories with the PRC asking that Riley back up some of his opinions with “analyses and studies”. For example: Riley stated that elimination of Saturday delivery “would also send a signal to customers that their needs and preferences no longer matter to the Postal Service.”

While the statement seems to be a matter of opinion, the USPS requests “copies of all data, analyses, market research studies and other documents, aside from any documents filed by the Postal Service in this docket, upon which this conclusion is based.”

The USPS makes the same request in response to Riley’s suggestion that eliminating Saturday deliveries “would reinforce the negative stereotype of the Postal Service as an inefficient government entity rather than a vital service-orientated service. Such a negative stereotype would not only dampen the public’s demand for postal services but would erode its support for the Postal Service as an institution.”

Finally, in response to Riley’s assertion that “We live in an era where service companies are increasing days and hours of operation to appeal to their customers.”, the USPS asks Riley to “specifically identify the service companies to which you refer, describe the products and services they offer, and specify the increases in days and hours of operations to which you refer.”

While the questions are par for the course in rate setting deliberations, they are somewhat ironic given the USPS admissions in the exigent rate case last week that it had no specific analyses or studies to back up its own assertions on the price sensitivity of first class mail or the health of the periodicals industry.