Postal Service Raises Preferred Mail Rate 11%

Nonprofit groups and other preferred-rate mailers will face an 11% postage rate increase, their second of the month, on Jan. 18, the Postal Service Board of Governors decided Tuesday.

The Postal Service raised the federally subsidized preferred rates 23% to 41% on Jan. 1. The new increase is designed to make up a $72-million shortfall in congressional funding.

George E. Miller, president of the Nonprofit Mailers Federation, said the rate increase may be challenged in court on the grounds that nonprofit mailers already are paying the full cost of sending their mail.

Miller, speaking from a federation conference in Los Angeles, said nonprofit mailers, many of whom depend on the postal system for most of their fund raising, will be forced to cut back on programs because of the rate increases, the third in 12 months.

Since coming into office five years ago, the Reagan Administration has tried to eliminate all mailing subsidies, but Congress has resisted the effort.