Effective Monday, May 11, 2009, postage increases on practically all classes of mail and their related services – first class U.S., first class international, periodicals, standard (a.k.a. bulk), and package services.
If you have Forever Stamps, they are good regardless of whether postage is $.42 or $.44; you purchase them at today’s rate, but they are worth whatever face value at the time of mailing.
Most of us remember the postage increase last May – taking our first class 1 ounce letter rate up from $.41 to $.42. (It was $.39 just before that.) This May, the comparable postage will increase from $.42 to $.44. And, guess what, it gets reviewed again next May. It is the United States Postal Service’s philosophy to review postage every year in order to provide smaller, more predictable price changes.
So, postage is going up. A lot of things go up in price. We could probably live with that. But what about service? Is that getting better? Is there more? Or are they talking about less? They are talking about less. The greatest increases in postage are coming to areas where mail must be handled manually instead of by machines. This makes the Post Office personnel work harder which translates to more expensive. The USPS cannot meet their budget, so they are considering dropping a day of service – enabling them to lessen their costs while increasing their prices at the expense of their customers.
The USPS has a monopoly on their service. For us customers of theirs, we have very few options. It does give us pause to reflect … is there anything we can do? Please share your thoughts.
Filed under direct mail costs, forever stamps, postage stamps by on May 1st, 2009. Comment. 
This horror story comes directly from David Hepburn, President of Helping Hands Housing Services, a non-profit organization in Phoenix, Arizona.
Attempting to save money in the current economic climate, Helping Hands decided to mail their newsletters themselves. This decision cost them 5 visits to bulk mail acceptance at the Phoenix Post Office. Each of these visits entailed a 1 to 2 hour wait for check-in.
On the first visit, they were told that they should not be mailing their newsletters as flats, they should fold them in half and mail them as letter-size. This would save them a significant amount of money in postage. True. So, they took them back and folded them, incurring yet a different problem. The bindery of the newsletters contained a staple right at the needed fold line. So, each of these staples was removed and replaced in a different position. The newsletters were then folded in half.
Thinking themselves done and not sure that the extra energies were truly worth it, Helping Hands presented the mailing for their second time. Instead of getting their mail accepted, they were told that since the newsletters were folded, now they needed to have a tab closure. Why this couldn’t have been shared the first time is a mystery. Helping Hands had no choice now; they took the newsletters back to fix this problem.
On the third visit, they were told they were in the wrong size trays. The pieces needed to be in EMM trays. When David asked where the trays were, he was told he could just fumble around the loading dock for them.
On the next presentation, David was told that he violated his non-profit status by having an “ad” thanking a major contributor for a very sizable donation. David did not see this as an ad, just a thank you. The postal clerk regarded it differently and gave David 2 options – 1) remove the thank you sheet and mail at non-profit rates or 2) mail the way they are at for-profit rates. David backed away to consider this.
On the fifth presentation, David decided to just get the mail out at the for-profit rates only to hear that he didn’t have his trays strapped. At this point, David just glared at the clerk and told him the history of this 350 piece mailing. The clerk took pity and said he’d let it go this time.
David has sworn to use a mailing house for all future direct mail!
Share your horror story with mailing and the post office. Make a comment here.
Filed under bulk mail, direct mail horror stories by on May 6th, 2009. Comment.
In preparing any direct mail campaign, you naturally start with both an idea and a budget. Before getting too involved in your project, be sure to check that your concept works well with your budget, both in terms of postage and post office delivery and processing time. A good suggestion is to run the size and design by your mailing house for feedback.
Automated and machineable pieces are always quickest for the post office to process and deliver. At the same time, these pieces also receive the least expensive postage, the greatest dollar savings.
What makes a direct mail piece machineable? Several items to check:
- 1) Size. Letter size mail always processes quicker and costs less in postage, regardless of whether it is being mailed first class, presorted first class or presorted standard. Non-letter size mail can cost almost twice as much in postage. Square and odd-shaped pieces are not only considered non-letter size, but are always processed manually by the post office and, therefore, more time consuming to process and more expensive in postage.
- 2) Thickness. Be sure the mail piece is at least as thick as the minimum postal standards and will withstand post office equipment processing. Conversely, make sure it is not too thick so as to require manual processing.
- 3) Location of Address. Be sure the address can be placed where you can receive automated discounts. Also make certain it is the first address that will be read by the post office machinery. Post office processing equipment reads addresses from the bottom up and from right to left. If a destination address is placed higher on a mail piece than a return address, the post office might attempt to deliver all of the mail to the one trying to send the mail. If the mail piece is non-letter size, be sure the address is positioned in the top half of the piece. If not, there are no postal discounts available; you would have to pay full first class postage on every piece.
- 4) Room for a Barcode. A barcode is just under 3″ wide and you may not print the barcode in the ½” closest to the right margin. You should also have at least ¼” clear on the left side of your barcode. A good rule of thumb is to keep a 4″ area clear from the right side of the mail panel. Having a barcode speeds delivery and can significantly lessen postage.
Remember, any good direct mail house will always be willing to look over the design of your mail piece before it is printed. This way, potential problems can be caught while they are still an easy fix.
If you have some tips that you can add to this, we welcome your comments.
Filed under direct mail, direct mail campaign by on May 19th, 2009. Comment.