In its best roguish impersonation of the IRS, the U.S. Postal Service has made a federal case out of a seemingly harmless mistake by a group of local do-gooders. The target of the postal service's wrath is the Portland Marathon--an annual volunteer-run race that last year raised $600,000 for the Special Olympics, Oregon schools, the Oregon Hospice Association, the Leukemia Society and other causes. The problem, according to the USPS, is that the marathon receives a special nonprofit postage rate for its mailings. Last year Portland Marathon officials sent out 19 different mailings advertising marathon-related merchandise, such as T-shirts. A postal inspector received one of the mailings, examined it and concluded that it did not carry an adequate "identification statement" making clear that the merchandise was related to the marathon. Higher-ups agreed and the marathon was hit with a $4,846 charge (the difference between the nonprofit and for-profit mailing rates). USPS spokeswoman Teresa Saunders maintains that postage due is postage due. Period. "Any customer who does not mail something along proper guidelines has to pay the postage due," she says. "That's in fairness to everyone. If you and I mailed something, we would have to pay the difference." But when U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer delved into the flap, he went postal. He learned that the marathon's mail pieces were cleared in advance by the Portland Post Office Rates and Classification Office. More important, USPS officials have said crackdowns on bulk-mail rate violations should focus only on finding chronic violators engaged in "alleged schemes to avoid payment." The marathon had a perfect record--no previous violations, no complaints. And last November, the USPS turned down the marathon's offer to settle and avoid the costs of a trial by donating $5,000 to a charity. Instead, the postal service pushed for full payment to its coffers--or a federal trial. |
