Docket No. R2017-1

USPS-LR-R2017-1/5

Special ServicesWorkpapers

Preface

Revisions of 10/17/16, 10/26/16, 11/10/16, and 12/06/16are explained in BOLD at the end of this document.

A. Overview of the Workpapers

The Special Services workpapers consist of this preface and two Excel workbooks:CAPCALC-SpecServ-R2017-1.xlsx and CAPCALC-INTLSpecServ-R2017-1.xls.

CAPCALC-SpecServ-R2017-1.xlsx takes the results from CAPCALC-INTLSpecServ-R2017-1.xls, and determines cap compliance for domestic and international market dominant special services combined.

CAPCALC-SpecServ-R2017-1.xlsx contains individual worksheets for each special service, as well as the following worksheets. ”Change Calc” worksheet calculates the amount of the pricechange for each of the special services.

  • The “Rate Cap Authority Calcs” worksheet shows how much cap was available, how much was used, and how much will be unused for Special Services, following thespecial services price changes.
  • The “Prices” worksheet shows the current and new prices for each special service; each of the sheets for the individual special services is dynamically linked to this sheet for its price information.
  • The “Hardcoded Data” worksheet contains data that are used on each sheet.
  • The “Index” and “CoverPage” worksheets are the index of the workbook and the cover page for this document, respectively.

CAPCALC-INTLSpecServ-R2016-4.xls contains the “Cap Calculation”worksheet, which summarizes the price changes for the market dominant international special services.

B. Adjustments to the Billing Determinants

A total of 2 of the Billing Determinants in CAPCALC-SpecServ-R2017-1.xlsx have adjustments. The affected worksheets are: “G-2 Business Reply Mail” and “H-4 BPM Permits”. Explanations of the adjustments are provided below.

Additionally, in Docket No. R2015-4, Restricted Deliverywas eliminated as a stand-alone service and a new Restricted Delivery option was created under each special service with which it can be used. However, due to reporting issues not all Restricted Delivery volume was reported under one of those categories.As a result the “F-7 Restricted Delivery“ tab was retained for this filing to ensure that the price change authority used is calculated accurately.

G-2Business Reply Mail

An adjustment to the number of paid permits was necessary as the Postal Service is proposing to not charge for BRM permits when permit holders use only parcels and/or Qualified Business Reply Mail.

H-4BPM Permits

The adjustment is due to the proposed elimination of the permit fees for mailers that only mail BPM Parcels.

Revisions of October 17, 2016

The fileCAPCALC-SpecServ-R2017-1.xlsx is being resubmitted as CAPCALC-SpecServ-R2017-1 Rev 10-17.xlsx to correct for an error in inputting the aggregated volumes, and therefore revenues, for the four quarters used for the price change (4th quarter of 2015 and the first three quarters of 2016). This correction affects volumes for most services.

Five files are being added to the library reference in response to ChIR 1 Question 2 part b. These files are the 4 quarterly billing determinants (4Q15 Special Services.xlsx, 1Q16 Special Services.xlsx, 2Q16 Special Services.xlsx, and 3Q16 Special Services.xlsx) and a file that aggregates these four files (4Q15 to 3Q16 Special Services.xlsx), which is a source file for CAPCALC-SpecServ-R2017-1 Rev 10-17.xlsx.

Revisions of October 26, 2016

The file CAPCALC-SpecServ-R2017-1 Rev 10-17.xlsx is being resubmitted as CAPCALC-SpecServ-R2017-1 Rev 10-26.xlsx to correct for revisions to the International Special Services calculated revenues. Changes can be found on the “Change Calc” tab. There are no further revisions to this file.

The file CAPCALC-INTLSpecServ-R2017-1.xlsx, which is a source file for CAPCAL-SpecServ-R2017-1 Rev 10-26.xlsx, is being revised in response to ChIR 3 Question 4 part c, to correct for an error in determining the combined, hybrid-year volumes for bulk International Certificate of Mailing. In addition, the file Q415-Q316_INT_SPEC_SVCS.xlsx, which combines the quarterly International Special Service hybrid-year billing determinants with revised transaction volumes for the bulk International Certificate of Mailing categories, is being added to this library reference.

Revisions of November 10, 2016

The file CAPCALC-SpecServ-R2017-1 Rev 10-26.xlsx is being revised resubmitted as CAPCALC-SpecServ-R2017-1 Rev 11-10.xlsx in response to Chairman’s Information Request No. 5, questions 4 and 9.The Postal Service’s response to question 9 was filed on October 31. Responses to question 4 were filed on November 4, 7, and 8.

In addition, each of the quarterly billing determinant files are being revised and resubmitted, also in response to questions 4 and 9.Changes are highlighted, and a list of changes can be found on the “Revision Log” tab of CAPCALC-SpecServ-R2017-1 Rev 11-10.xlsx.

Revisions of December 6, 2016

The file CAPCALC-SpecServ-R2017-1 Rev 11-10.xlsx is being revised and resubmitted as CAPCALC-SpecServ-R2017-1 Rev 12-6.xlsx to reflect a change to the price proposed for Certified Mail with Restricted Delivery and/or Adult Signature. An explanation of the change in proposed price can be found in the Notice of Revision to United States Postal Service Notice of Market-Dominant Price Adjustment, Attachment A, also filed today. Revisions to the price change workpapersare highlighted and listed on the “Revision Log” tab.

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