§3652 Annual Reports to the Commission

Summary

The Postal Service must prepare and send a yearly report to the Postal Regulatory Commission no later than 90 days after the end of each year. The report must analyze costs, revenues, rates, and service quality and show that postal products met the law. For every market-dominant product the report must give product details (such as mail volumes) and service measures, including delivery speed, reliability, and customer satisfaction. The Inspector General must regularly audit the data systems used to make the report and give the audit results to both the Postal Service and the Commission. For products with workshare discounts, the report must show the per-item cost the Postal Service avoided, what percent of that avoided cost the discount equals, and the per-item contribution to institutional costs. For experimental market tests, the Postal Service may report summarized results but must also provide whatever the Commission requires. The Postal Regulatory Commission will set rules for what the public and nonpublic parts of the report must include and how they should look. The Commission can see the Postal Service’s and Inspector General’s working papers under those rules. The Commission should balance giving the public information needed to check rates, avoiding unnecessary burden, and protecting business secrets. The Commission may change reporting rules if cost or service data are inaccurate or need improvement. If the Postal Service sends nonpublic material it believes is confidential, it must notify the Commission in writing and explain why; that material will be handled under the same confidentiality rules that apply under section 504(g). Each annual submission must also include the Postal Service’s most recent comprehensive statement under section 2401(e), performance plan under section 2803, and program performance reports under section 2804.