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

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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.

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