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Filed under Arizona mail services, bulk mail, direct mail, mail services by on Apr 25th, 2010. Comment. 
One of my biggest irritations in dealing with the post office for the processing of discounted mail is that you are at the mercy of the mail clerk checking your mail. Everyone has good days and bad days. Also, everyone makes mistakes.
The most common mistake is in math. Any mail processed through a bulk mail acceptance unit – standard mail (bulk mail), presorted first class mail, first class mail, periodical mail, media mail, etc. – is checked by weight. To verify that the correct amount of mail is being received, the post office takes 10 pieces and weighs them. From this they determine the per piece weight and then multiply this figure by the total number of pieces there are supposed to be in the mailing. To this figure they add the tare weight allowances for any trays, tubs, lids or sacks plus cages or skids, if any.
As long as the final figure matches the actual total weight on the scale – within the allowance given by the post office – the mail can be accepted. If not, the mail will be rejected. There is an awful lot of math in this process. That means, there is plenty of room for math errors. If you know that everything was processed at your end properly, before taking the mail to the post office, you have the right to request a reweigh and a math review. Unfortunately, some people are capable of making the exact same math mistake twice when they are reviewing their own written numbers.
If you might be wrong because let’s say a printer used 2 different weights of paper, then you’ve got a problem. But, if you know you’re right, speak up and request a supervisor review.
Filed under Arizona mail services, bulk mail, direct mail costs, direct mail tips by on Aug 21st, 2009. Comment.
Despite the passage of postal reform legislation a little over two years ago, the US Postal Service remains steeped in financial problems.
It’s anybody’s guess how much, if any, financial assistance the USPS will get from Congress — whether or not it’s part of President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package.
The major issue continues to be how the postal service will cope with its nearly $5.8 billion annual obligation to pay healthcare costs for retired postal employees.
All this comes at a time when the USPS reported a loss of $384 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008 and projected that mail volume would fall even further, to some 12 billion to 15 billion pieces, for the year ending this Sept. 30.
Even with these losses, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) mandates that the USPS can raise rates every year — but only in accordance with the rate of inflation specified in the Consumer Price Index.
And so the postal service announced last month that standard mail and nonprofit rates will increase an average of 3.8% on May 11.
Catalog or flat rates will rise by 2.5%. But some standard hikes are going to exceed the average.
“It looks like standard rate parcels went up an average of 16%,” says Jerry Cerasale, the Direct Marketing Association’s senior vice president for government affairs. “Our initial response is that it’s just going to depress volume more.”
Under the new rate schedule:
Standard mail regular automation letters with five-digit ZIP codes that weigh 3.3 ounces or less will cost 23.3 cents to mail.
Standard mail regular automation letters with three-digit ZIPs will be priced at 25.1 cents.
In the standard mail regular nonautomation category, machinable automated area distribution center letters weighing 3 ounces or less will now cost 25.6 cents.
Meanwhile, the industry is hoping the USPS can remain solvent given its fiscal woes.
The PAEA allowed the postal service to file an “exigent (i.e., urgent) rate case” if the conventional CPI-based hike would leave it with insufficient operating funds.
But Postmaster General Jack Potter said in testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security in late January that the USPS doesn’t believe it’s “appropriate” to ask for an exigent rate case.
“This would be counterproductive, particularly in an environment where mailing activity is already severely contracted,” he testified.
Early last month, a coalition of 40 mailers and trade groups wrote a letter to National Economic Council director Lawrence Summers, Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag and OMG deputy director Robert Nabors, asking that any forthcoming stimulus bill include an amendment from Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE) that would allow the USPS to pay retired postal employees out of a separate retiree health benefits fund and not from general postal revenue.
The letter argued that “The U.S. Postal Service confronts a severe economic challenge that, if not addressed in an effective way, could cause serious and disruptive changes to its structure and services, and the estimated 9 million jobs it supports throughout the mailing community. Because the Service remains an essential and fundamental part of the nation’s communications and commerce infrastructure, and because of the vast network of jobs it supports, we believe that action must be taken swiftly. …This is vital legislation that will preserve or restore up to a million jobs in the mailing sector.”
Before the groups wrote that letter, Potter asked the Senate panel for changes in the law that would permit the postal service to cut back its delivery schedule to five days a week, and also requested assistance with the USPS’ healthcare obligations. His proposal received, at best, a lukewarm response among the senators.
For the latest postal news, visit http://directmag.com/legal/postal/.
(the above article is taken from http://directmag.com/mail/0301-usps-financial-woes/)
Filed under US Postal Service, bulk mail, direct mail costs, mail services, postage stamps by on Jul 30th, 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!
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Filed under bulk mail, direct mail horror stories by on May 6th, 2009. Comment.