
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 16, 1993                   TAG: 9306160034
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

POSTAL RATES LIKELY TO INCREASE

Forty-seven thousand budget-related resignations later, the U.S. Postal Service is searching for a new way put its finances in order, and the solution is likely to affect just about everyone who uses the mail.

Despite last summer's $2 billion restructuring plan that slashed 30,000 jobs and led to the early retirement of more than 47,000 workers, the Clinton administration's budget calls for the Postal Service to "contribute" another $2 billion in the name of deficit reduction.

Postmaster General Marvin T. Runyon contends that with little fat now remaining in the ranks of middle management - which already have been severely trimmed - he has been left with few options.

The most likely sources of new revenue appear to be raising the reduced postage rates enjoyed by more than 400,000 nonprofit organizations nationwide and increasing regular residential and commercial postal rates ahead of schedule.

Upon taking office as head of the independent agency last summer, the postmaster general was faced with an inefficient and bloated system of management; unhappy workers; and, perhaps most important, a projected $2 billion deficit in fiscal year 1993.

Runyon immediately unveiled a proposal to dramatically cut costs and reshape upper management into a more corporate-like structure, eliminating 30,000 management and support positions.

The administration has targeted the Postal Service as a ready source of cash, seeking a combination of one-time and annual budget cuts totaling $2 billion.

Since 1951, Congress has paid the Postal Service's overhead costs for the mail of nonprofit groups, requiring the groups to pay only the direct costs of their mail - a savings of 5 to 7 cents per letter.

Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by CNB