We were honored to be invited to offer Testimony to the Postal Rate Commission this fall - it was an unexpected opportunity to perhaps do some good on behalf of all who
rely on the United States Postal Service, and especially the "bulk mails". The case currently before the PRC regards a USPS request for an increase in postal rates (it's identified
as R2006-1) -- and
our information (the information our Flute Network subscribers helped materially to create, from our request for feedback on receipt of the February and March 2006 issues!) was requested because it filled in a large gap - info the USPS is charged with providing
the PRC, but which they do not have... As of this writing, I understand that our Testimony has already been very well received (except, perhaps by the USPS - I have heard from
one representative from the USPS about it and I can report that it was, at the very least, a very nice conversation!).
First - click on the link here to go to Search page for the PRC website
Second - once there - in the pulldown box at the "Filing Party" line - type in the words (or select from the pull-down list): Flute - The Flute Network -- then click on submit button at the bottom of the table.
You should now have a page showing everything we've filed and which has been filed towards us (yay!)
For our Testimony, originally filed September 5, 2006, click the document identified as "Direct Testimony" and filed on 9/5/2006 - it should open it then, for you, in a window
on that page.
Our Response to the Interrogatories (which includes a verbatim reproduction of each question the USPS posed, followed by our reply) - click on the document identified as
"Response of Flute Network Witness Pritchard to Interrogatories of teh USPS (USPS/Flute-T1-1-4)" -- that should then open in a window on that page, for you. The date associated
with that document is 9/29/2006.
Our Initial Brief was originally filed on 12/19/2006 - and then filed again on 1/3/2007 along with a Motion For Acceptance which is the formal request for its acceptance (the refiled brief differs
from the original filing only in that the type size is a little larger and the type style was changed into Arial which we had learned was the one most desired by the PRC folks...
the Motion for Acceptance spells that out... this cosmetic change in our Brief shifted the page numbers slightly in the Table of Contents and spilled out on to one more page than the original Brief,
but other than that, the content of both briefs is the same.... only now, hopefully, also a little easier to read) The Briefs being filed in this case by most of those who Testified
serve to "recap" and highlight the issues and concerns, and the collective arguments, for the Commissioners to draw from as they consider their findings in this case.
ALTERNATELY --- if you have a PDF reader on your computer - both our 144 page Testimony and the 24 page Reply to Interrogatories are also available from the Flute Network website.
(Adobe Acrobat Reader is available as a free download if you don't already have it... there are other PDF readers available as well, and any of them should work equally well for you.)
There are going to be at least one or two more documents I'll be filing as this case progesses - however, the above represents the meat of what we have offered, and I'm
delighted to share them with you now! This case is likely to remain open until sometime in March of 2007. So the adventure continues.
Email:jan@flutenet.com.
September 2006 - January 2007, to dateIf you're curious, you can read our full Testimony, the questions the USPS posed back to us (called "Interrogatories"), and our reply to those - and also our Initial Brief (sort of
a "Readers Digest" version of it all) - all on the PRC website. Here's how you can find everything we've done, so far:
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Flute Network Testimony is a 13.77 MB file - it will take a while to download (so if you're internet connection is "dail-up", you may want to visit the PRC site instead).
It includes 144 pages. Here's the place to find it: www.flutenet.com/FLUTE-FINAL.pdf.
The Interrogatories and our replies to each question are included together in one document - that files is 6.7 MB and includes 24 pages.
Here's the place to find that one: www.flutenet.com/FluteReplytoInterog.pdf.
As always - many thanks for your interest! We really are all in this together. All best wishes, Jan