The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) will hold a public field hearing in St. Paul, Minnesota on Thursday, June 5, 2008, at 10 a.m., to solicit views relating to the universal service obligation of the U.S. Postal Service and the postal monopoly. The hearing will be in the City Council Chambers, third floor of the City Hall/Court House Building, 15 West Kellogg Blvd.

The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA) requires the Commission to report to the President and Congress by December 19, 2008, on universal postal service and the postal monopoly in the United States, including the monopoly on mail delivery and access to mailboxes. In addition to consulting with the Postal Service and other federal agencies, the Commission is directed to hear from commercial mailers, postal service competitors, and the general public. Congress mandates that the report focus on: geographic scope; product offerings; access to facilities and services; the frequency of delivery, rates and affordability, and quality of services.

The St. Paul hearing is the second of three public hearings held outside of Washington, D.C. The first hearing took place on May 21, 2008 in Flagstaff, Arizona. A third hearing will be held on June 19, 2008, at City Hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The Commission will also hold a public workshop on June 12, 2008, at 10:00 a.m., in Washington, D.C.

Congress tasked the Commission with providing a comprehensive review of the universal service obligation and the postal monopoly. Our hearings will elicit views of the publics expectations for the American postal system, said Dan G. Blair, chairman of the Commission. We expect our hearings to build on the record established by our witnesses testimony at the Flagstaff hearing two weeks ago. Input from the public contributes greatly to the Commissions universal service obligation and postal monopoly study, Blair said.

All hearing testimony, hearing transcriptions, and replies to the Commissions notice for public comment will be available on the Commissions website at www.prc.gov, under Docket No. PI2008-3.

The following witnesses are scheduled to testify at the St. Paul hearing: John Joachim, Manager, Material Services, Hazelden Foundation, Center City, MN; Mike Larson, Postmaster, St. Paul, MN; Dennis ONeill, Postmaster, Chokio, MN; T. Scott Mitchell, CEO, Mackay/Mitchell Envelope Company, Minneapolis, MN; Irene Auginaush, District Representative, White Earth Tribal Council, White Earth Reservation, MN; Vicki Updike, VP, Merchandising and Marketing, Miles Kimball Co, Oshkosh, WI; George White, President and COO, Up with Paper, Mason, OH; and Lyle Puppe, Retired Postmaster, St. Paul, MN.