Mailing List Update Standards Are Changing

As it stands right now, First-Class mailers are required to update their mailing lists every 185 days. On November 23rd 2008, however, the USPS is changing their standards to require ALL mail classes to update their mailings lists every 95 days.

This new move is USPS’ attempt to decrease the amount of “Undeliverable As Addressed” mail they handle every year. In 2004, UAA amounted to 9.7 billion pieces of mail, which resulted in $2 billion dollars of extra costs for the USPS.

And given that Standard UAA mail is discarded (First-Class is delayed), this amounts to a pretty significant amount of waste.

This update is actually good timing because the Do-Not-Mail bill is growing in size — there are currently 18 such bills in 15 states.

But new rules like the one above  – as well as programs like the DMA Choice Service that lets you opt-out of receiving certain mail — are forward-thinking moves that will help protect both the Direct Marketing industry as well as the environment.

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