Entries from February 2008 ↓

The United States Postal Service will be adjusting their postage rates on all mail classes on May 12, 2008. 

The rate increase is in accordance with the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which is the regulation of how the USPS adjusts their rate to compete fairly in the marketplace. 

In a nutshell, the adjustment is based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the USPS states that all rate adjustments are at or below the rate of inflation.

Here is a recap of the new postage rates:

• The single-piece First-Class first ounce rate will rise to $0.42 for letters, $0.27 for cards, $0.83 for flats, and $1.17 for parcels. 
• The first ounce auto 5-d rate will be $0.324 for letters, $0.364 for flats, and $0.711 for parcels.
• For Standard Mail, the minimum per-piece rate for letters (auto 5-d, origin entry) will be $0.225 and $0.339 for flats.

If you want a PDF with full details, please visit:

http://pe.usps.com/2008_RateCase/Notice123/Notice123.pdf

Popularity: 98% [?]

Tags: Postage, Postal Rate Case, USPS

The post office offers many tools to help make a direct mail campaign execute problem-free and more cost-effective.

One of the areas that we take great advantage of here at Ballantine is our local Postal Design Specialist.

These employees of the USPS are given the task of making a mail piece design flow through the postal system with no problems such as machine jam-ups or not qualifying for the automated mail postage rate.

The ideal time to take advantage of them is when you’re in the early design stages of your project. You can send them a mock-up of your mail piece and they will respond quickly with suggestions.

All of their information is based on the Domestic Mail Manual — actual written rules that all mailers must follow. If not followed, the consequences could be very expensive.

For example, if the post office deems your letter size mailer as non-machinable, the surcharge could be as high as $0.25 per piece.

For information on a Postal Design Specialist nearest you, contact the USPS.

Popularity: 46% [?]

Tags: Direct Mail Creative, Postage, Postal Customer Council, Postal Design Specialist, USPS

Good news for Direct Marketers… 

An article today on UnionLeader.com announced:

“A bill that would create a do-not-mail list to let people block direct mail ran into a major defeat Thursday. The House Commerce committee voted 14-1 to recommend that the full House kill the bill.”

The 14 that voted against the bill said the state doesn’t need to get involved because consumers already have the option of being removed from mailings lists by contacting individual merchants and Direct Marketing Associations.

More good news for Direct Marketers:

An article on Forbes.com about the slumping economy outlined industries that are expected to slump and industries that are expected to hold up.

Direct Marketing was chosen as one expected to hold up.

The reasoning:

Direct mail — and other direct response advertising – yields results more easily trackable than traditional, mass-media ad purchases. And as advertising budgets shrink, Marketers will be under greater pressure to show positive ROI.

This prediction goes hand-in-hand with our post about B-to-B Magazine’s Outlook 2008 Survey.

Please feel free to share your thoughts by commenting below.

Popularity: 43% [?]

Tags: Direct Mail Spending, Direct Marketing Association, Direct Response Marketing, Do-Not-Mail Bill