There is a lot of discussion right now within the postal service as to the future of slim jim size magalogs (actually all booklet type self mailers).

The concern of the USPS is that these pieces (when formatted correctly) qualify as either automated letters or non-automated machinable letters, but in most cases cannot be processed effectively on USPS letter sorting equipment.
 
The objective of the rate change and reclassification of May 14, 2007 was to better align the cost of mail processing with the actual mail category.  Because these pieces do not run well on letter equipment, often times they are run on flats sorters.

Because flats equipment is being used, the cost to process the mail is higher than the postage rates for letters can cover.
 
All that being said, there was an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued in the Federal Register on March 14, 2008 outlining testing that the USPS is conducting on booklet style mail pieces with different physical properties. 

The main components being looked at are thickness, tab integrity, cover stocks, finish size, and basic mail piece orientation.

Once the fate of slim jim magalogs is decided, we’ll make sure to update this blog with details.

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Tags: Direct Mail Flats, Direct Mail Formats, Postage, Slim Jim Magalogs, USPS

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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Tags: DMA Choice, Do-Not-Mail Bill, Mailing Lists, USPS