dan@netword.UUCP (03/02/84)
E-COM Users' Group, Inc.
Phone - 301-699-0123
Box 888
Riverdale, MD
20737
UPDATE #2
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Now that we know you CAN'T AFFORD the DRASTIC proposed E-COM
price increases, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
YOU HAVE UNTIL MONDAY, MARCH 5 TO PETITION THE POSTAL BOARD OF
GOVERNORS TO REJECT THE COMMISSION'S RECOMMENDED PRICE INCREASE!
If you haven't done so already WRITE OR EXPRESS the Board of
Governors with your protest. DO IT TODAY!!
WE STRONGLY URGE you to petition the Board of Governors to REJECT
the recommendations of the PRC. The future of E-COM service is at
stake, and EACH AND EVERY petition to the Board asking them
to REJECT the PRC recommendations will help the Cause. Keep your
letters under 15 pages, send us a copy, and send it to:
Secretary, Board of Governors
U.S. Postal Service Room 10300
475 L'Enfant Plaza, S.W.
Washington, DC 20260-1000
YOU SHOULD NOW BE AWARE of the recommended price increases
for E-COM service-- 52 cents for a 1-page E-COM letter; 67 cents
for a 2-page E-COM letter. They're outrageous! We cannot
withstand an increase of over 100%!
THIS IS OUR DEMOCRACY-- Our Freedom of Press is endangered; we
must fight for our freedoms-- and you can fight for it by
petitioning the Board of Governors to get your views heard. BUT
YOU MUST DO IT NOW!!
YOU SHOULD ALSO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO JOIN the E-COM Users'
Group, Inc., a D.C. non-profit organization. Your membership dues
of $25 will go toward a legal fund and newsletter mailings such
as this. We already have over 25 members-- DON'T DELAY. Your check
payable to E-COM Users' Group can be sent to Box 888, Riverdale,
MD, 20737. The E-COM Users' Group has been representing your
interests in this case before the Postal Rate Commission.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, CALL US AT (301) 699-0123.
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
POSTAL RATE COMMISSION SUPPORTS OLD-FASHIONED LETTER SHOPS
OVER MODERNIZATION
In a move sharply criticized by proponents of improved mail
delivery, the Postal Rate Commission arbitrarily recommended a
drastic increase in prices for its emerging E-COM (Electronic
Computer Originated Mail) system. Citing a desire to protect the
small letter shops from the Postal Service's new service, the
majority Opinion of the Postal Rate Commission on February 24th
recommended an increase of E-COM prices from 26 cents to 52 cents
for a basic E-COM letter.
"They're dooming the future of postal mail delivery in the United
States," predicted Dr. Diana Guetzkow, President of Netword,
Inc., a new $3 million public company specializing in E-COM.
"In an era where there will be a computer on every desktop, the
proposed rate hikes for E-COM will put the Postal Service out
of business in the future." E-COM service allows businesses and
individuals to electronically "mail" letters directly to the Post
Office from large or small computers by telephone.
"One can only view such action with disbelief," writes Postal
Rate Commissioner James H. Duffy in a dissenting opinion.
"Saddling E-COM users with an instantaneous 160% premium over
First Class letter rates would destroy E-COM as a viable service.
This Commission has clearly failed... to consider the impact of
doubling the E-COM rate on the hundreds of small E-COM 'business
mail users' who have invested millions of their capital based on
promises made previously by this Commission that E-COM is a
permanent service which will provide needed services at
reasonable and stable prices. Yet this Commission, by its own
admission, has doubled the E-COM rate, and based 50% of the
increase solely on the effect of E-COM on letter shops."
The Postal Rate Commission's written opinion also admits that its
recommendation is based largely on an invented "unbundling"
theory which substitutes a possible future First Class presort
rate of 20 cents for the actual 7.6 cent (fiscal year 1982)
mailstream costs of E-COM. This "unbundling" theory artificially
increases E-COM rates by 50% "on the basis of conjecture rather than
the true costs they impose on the postal system."(Duffy) The Postal
Rate Commission is empowered by Congress as a fact-finding commission.
"Fortunately it doesn't end here," Dr. Guetzkow noted. "We will
petition the Postal Service's Board of Governors to reject the
PRC recommendations. We urge anyone outraged by this to write to
the Board of Governors at Postal Service Headquarters, Washington
20260, their Congressmen, and the E-COM Users' Group, Box 888,
Riverdale, MD 20737."
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For a complete press kit contact Rochelle Holbrook: (301) 699-0123. burton@fortune.UUCP (03/07/84)
#R:cbosgd:-105200:fortune:15600002:000:312
fortune!burton Mar 6 17:48:00 1984
Isn't this sort of message abusing the netiquette about no blatant
commercialism or messages for self-gain?
Philip Burton 101 Twin Dolphin Drive
Fortune Systems Redwood City, CA 94065 (415) 595-8444 x 526
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{allegra decvax!decwrl!amd70 cbosgd harpo hpda ihnp4 sri-unix}!fortune!burton