National Ass'n of Greeting Card Publishers v. U.S. Postal Service
| Decision Date | 08 June 1979 |
| Docket Number | 78-1453,78-1494,78-1683 and 78-1684,78-1531,78-1483,78-1518,78-1517,78-1509,78-1449,78-1484,Nos. 78-1448,78-1532,s. 78-1448 |
| Citation | 607 F.2d 392,197 U.S.App.D.C. 78 |
| Parties | NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GREETING CARD PUBLISHERS, Petitioner,* v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Respondent, Association of American Publishers, Inc., Recording Industry Association of America, Inc., Council of Public Utility Mailers, Growers & Shippers League of Florida, et al., Associated Third Class Mail Users, American Bankers Association, American Business Press, Inc., Magazine Publishers Association, Inc., Direct Mail/Marketing Association, Inc., Reader's Digest Association, Inc., American Council on Education, United Parcel Service of America, American Newspaper Publishers Association, and the National Newspaper Association, Dow Jones & Company, Inc., National Foundation March of Dimes, United Parcel Service of America, Inc., Intervenors. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GREETING CARD PUBLISHERS, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Appellee, (two cases). TIME INCORPORATED, Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Respondent. TIME INCORPORATED, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE. GROWERS AND SHIPPERS LEAGUE OF FLORIDA, and Florida Gift Fruit Shippers Association, Appellants, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Appellee. AMERICAN NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION and National Newspaper Association, Petitioners, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Respondent. AMERICAN BUSINESS PRESS, INC., Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Respondent. AMERICAN BUSINESS PRESS, INC., Appellant, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE. MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION, INC., Appellant, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE. MAGAZINE PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION, INC., Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Respondent. STATE OF MAINE, State of Indiana, State of Florida, State of Rhode Island, State of Washington, and State of Arkansas, Petitioners, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, Respondent, American Business Press, Inc., States of Utah, Iowa and Illinois, Direct Mail/Marketing Association, Inc., Magazine Publishers Association, Inc., Readers Digest Association, Inc., Time, Inc. & U |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit |
Michael B. Meyer, Asst. Atty. Gen., Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Boston, Mass., with whom Francis X. Bellotti, Atty. Gen., and Garrick F. Cole, Asst. Atty. Gen., Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Boston, Mass., and Donald G. Alexander, Deputy Atty. Gen., State of Maine, Augusta, Maine, were on brief, for petitioner, State of Maine, et al. in Nos. 78-1683 and 78-1684.
Douglas Green, Washington, D. C., with whom Matthew S. Perlman and Charles B. Ruttenberg, Washington, D. C., were on the brief, for appellant, National Association of Greeting Card Publishers, in Nos. 78-1448, 78-1449 and 78-1453.
Richard Litell, Washington, D. C., with whom Scott M. DuBoff, Washington, D. C., was on the brief, for petitioners, American Newspaper Publishers Association, et al. in No. 78-1509 and intervenor in Nos. 78-1448, 78-1449, 78-1453, 78-1483, 78-1484, 78-1494, 78-1517, 78-1518, 78-1531, 78-1532, 78-1683 and 78-1684.
John M. Burzio, Washington, D. C., with whom Louise C. Powell and Justin R. Wolf, Washington, D. C., were on the brief, for petitioners/appellants Time Incorporated and Magazine Publishers Association, Inc. in Nos. 78-1583, 78-1448, 78-1531 and 78-1532 and intervenor in Nos. 78-1448, 78-1449, 78-1453, 78-1483, 78-1484, 78-1494, 78-1509, 78-1517, 78-1518, 78-1683 and 78-1684.
Robert A. Saltzstein, Washington, D. C., for petitioner/appellant American Business Press, Inc. in Nos. 78-1517 and 78-1518 and intervenor in Nos. 78-1448, 78-1449, 78-1453, 78-1483, 78-1484, 78-1509, 78-1683 and 78-1684.
Maxwell W. Wells, Jr., Orlando, Fla., for appellants Growers and Shippers League of Florida, et al. in No. 78-1494 and intervenor in Nos. 78-1448, 78-1449, 78-1683 and 78-1684.
Frances G. Beck, Asst. Gen. Counsel, United States Postal Service, Washington, D. C., with whom John L. DeWeerdt, Associate Gen. Counsel, Frank R. Heselton and William L. Fang, Attys., United States Postal Service, Washington, D. C., were on the brief, for respondent.
Ronald R. Glancz, Atty., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., entered an appearance for respondent.
Timothy J. May, Washington, D. C., for intervenor Reader's Digest Association, Inc. in Nos. 78-1448, 78-1449, 78-1453, 78-1483, 78-1484, 78-1509, 78-1683 and 78-1684.
Robert L. Kendall, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa., with whom Bernard G. Segal and John E. McKeever, Philadelphia, Pa., were on the brief, for intervenor, United Parcel Service of America, Inc. in Nos. 78-1448, 78-1449, 78-1453, 78-1483, 78-1484, 78-1494, 78-1509, 78-1517, 78-1518, 78-1531, 78-1532, 78-1683 and 78-1684.
Arthur B. Hanson, Washington, D. C., was on the brief, for intervenor, American Newspaper Publishers Association in No. 78-1448.
W. Terry Maquire, Washington, D. C., was on the brief, for intervenor, National Newspaper Association in No. 78-1448.
Paula A. Jameson, Princeton, N. J., was on the brief, for intervenor, Dow Jones and Co., Inc. in Nos. 78-1448, 78-1449, 78-1453, 78-1483, 78-1484, 78-1494, 78-1509, 78-1517, 78-1518, 78-1531, 78-1532, 78-1683 and 78-1684.
Richard M. Schmidt, Jr., Ian D. Volner and Ruth S. Baher, Washington, D. C., were on the brief, for intervenors, The Association of American Publishers, Inc. and Recording Industry Association of America, Inc. in Nos. 78-1448, 78-1449, 78-1453, 78-1483, 78-1484, 78-1683 and 78-1684.
Eugene E. Threadgill, Washington, D. C., entered an appearance for intervenor, The Council of Public Utility Mailers in Nos. 78-1448, 78-1449, 78-1683 and 78-1684.
J. Edward Day, Washington, D. C., entered an appearance for intervenor, Associated Third Class Mail Users in Nos. 78-1448, 78-1449, 78-1453, 78-1683 and 78-1684.
Kenneth Wells Parkinson and William J. Olson, Washington, D. C., entered appearances for intervenor, National Foundation March of Dimes in Nos. 78-1448, 78-1449, 78-1453, 78-1483, 78-1484, 78-1494, 78-1509, 78-1517, 78-1518, 78-1683 and 78-1684.
William H. Smith and Michael F. Crotty, Washington, D. C., entered appearances for intervenor, American Bankers Association in Nos. 78-1448, 78-1449, 78-1453, 78-1683 and 78-1684.
Dana T. Ackerly and David A. Levitt, Washington, D. C., entered appearances for intervenor, Direct Mail/Marketing Association, Inc. in Nos. 78-1448, 78-1449, 78-1453, 78-1483, 78-1484, 78-1494, 78-1509, 78-1517, 78-1518, 78-1531, 78-1532, 78-1683 and 78-1684.
David C. Todd, Washington, D. C., entered an appearance for intervenors, Parcel Shippers Association and Mail Order Association of America in Nos. 78-1449, 78-1453, 78-1483, 78-1484, 78-1494 and 78-1509.
Francis R. Cawley entered an appearance for intervenor, Agricultural Publishers Association, Inc. in Nos. 78-1517 and 78-1518.
Before TAMM and LEVENTHAL, Circuit Judges, and WILLIAM B. BRYANT, * Chief Judge, United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Opinion PER CURIAM.
Opinions for the Court filed by LEVENTHAL and TAMM, Circuit Judges.
In these cases the court reviews and affirms orders of the Governors of the United States Postal Service approving a recommended decision of the Postal Rate Commission on increases in postal rates and fees. There are two opinions for the court. Judge Leventhal's opinion recounts the background of the litigation and considers the various objections of the parties to the cost allocation approaches of the Postal Service. Judge Tamm's opinion deals with claims that the Governors and Commission erred 1) in rejecting a proposed first-class "citizens' rate; " 2) in including in revenue requirement an item to recover past losses incurred by the Service; and 3) in imposing "constraints" on parcel post rates found to be otherwise cost-justified.
In this case the court again has occasion to consider the response of the United States Postal Service ("USPS" or "Postal Service") to the "special, and quite demanding, ratemaking requirements" 1 of the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 ("Act") 2 and to this court's views concerning those requirements.
This case arises from the fourth general ratemaking proceeding under the Act. Our principal focus here, as in our cases reviewing earlier ratemaking proceedings, 3 is on the methods by which the Postal Service, in setting the rates for the various classes of mail, allocates its costs among those classes. In particular, we must assess the Postal Service's "service related cost" methodology, by which it undertook in response to this court's mandate in National Association of Greeting Card Publishers v. USPS (NAGCP I ) 4 to assign to certain classes of mail fixed delivery costs deemed to result from the maintenance of a six-day-a-week, as opposed to a three-day-a-week, mail delivery schedule.
Secondarily, we also consider certain additional claims: By first-class users contending that the approved rate structure unduly discriminates against first-class mail; and by second-class users challenging certain specific cost attributions and rate decisions.
As to the cost allocation issues that are the subject of this opinion, we affirm. The ratemaking process under the Act has reflected a constructive...
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