Mailers Like Postal Discount Idea, Balk at Timing

While standard mailers generally favor the theory behind the U.S. Postal Service’s idea of discounting standard mail rates during the summer, several question its timing and aren’t sure they’ll be able to react quickly enough.

The USPS will likely implement temporary postage discounts for high-volume mailers who schedule drops between June 15 and Sept. 15. While the details of the program are still being worked out, discounts are expected to be between 20% and 30% (Direct Newsline, April 11 -- see link, below).

“While I think it’s a good thing to help stimulate business, I think it needed a little more planning,” said Mary Anne Kleinfelter, director of marketing, L-com. She noted it’s now the middle of April and the discount is supposed to take effect in the middle of June.

“It’s very hard to turn around a catalog in such a short period of time,” she said.

“I think it’s a good thing the USPS is doing some innovative things to drive volume,” said Hamilton Davison, executive director of the American Catalog Mailers Association. “And while I don’t think this is going to make a huge impact, it’s good that the USPS is showing all of us that they’re serious about using the pricing flexibility that they got under the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act and do some neat things.”

He observed this summer may be a little too soon for most catalogers to take advantage of the discounts since most of them have already made commitments for printing and production as well as producing merchandise to offer in their catalogs.

Joe Schick, director of postal affairs for Quad Graphics, said he hoped this move would not cause direct marketers to shift their mailings to summer and cut back on mailings during other times of the year.

“That isn’t going to do our customers or us any good,” he says.

But generally, Schick thinks discounted summer rates would benefit the USPS, possibly bring in some incremental revenue and hoped the USPS would expand the program to other slow periods like early January.

“We’re at the point here where the volume of standard mail has gone down from 102 billion pieces in 2006 to an estimated 86 billion this year,” said Geoff Batrouney, executive vice president of Estee Marketing Group Inc. “By having a discount, you will see greater volumes: give them a reason to mail and our clients will mail.”