Mailing/Fulfillment - Postal Trends

By Erik Cagle Senior Editor Today there is a distinct advantage for printers that offer mailing services to their clientele. Someday soon, there will be an extremely distinct disadvantage for those printers who do not offer mailing. Simply put, mailing capabilities may seem like a value-added, bonus service presently. Two years from now, those companies that have not committed to this discipline will find themselves in an unenviable minority. Mailing services has long been a core strength for Arandell Corp., according to H. Don Landis, its vice president of postal affairs. "The sad thing is, if you're not in the mailing arena, you're coming

By Erik Cagle President Kennedy put it best when he said: "Ask not what mailing services can do for you, ask what mailing services can do for your customers." OK, so there's a little liberty taking with the paraphrasing. But there is considerable value in putting another tool in the commercial printer's sales kit. Obviously, JFK never lived to see the marriage of printing and mailing under one roof. In his day, a dedicated mailing house handled direct mail. Commercial printers were still a generation away from uttering "one-stop shopping." They would soon realize the value of selling more to current customers, and

By Caroline Miller Printers will get the chance to explore in-depth how adding mailing and fulfillment capabilities, as well as wide-format ink-jet imaging, can improve their companies' bottom lines at the upcoming 2003 GRAPH EXPO and CONVERTING EXPO, to be held September 28 to October 1 at McCormick Place South in Chicago. New to this year's show is a mailing and fulfillment exhibit area. The Graphic Arts Show Co. (GASC), the event's producer, decided to add the new exhibit because of the growing demand by printers' customers for mailing and fulfillment capabilities. A recent study conducted by the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL)

WASHINGTON, DC—The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has turned its attention to increasing efficiencies in how flat mail is processed. "To meet the pledge of keeping mail service affordable for flats, we are committed to replicating the breakthrough productivity we achieved with letter mail," explains John Rapp, USPS senior vice president of operations. "Productivity in our letter operations increased 83 percent from 1993 to 2001. We expect similar results as we implement our Corporate Flat Plan." The Corporate Flat Plan is an efficiency-based strategy of the USPS' Transformation Plan—a short- and long-term blueprint for the future. Flat mail, which includes Periodicals and Standard Mail, is a valuable source

WASHINGTON, DC—A future postage rate increase could be delayed until at least 2006 thanks to a review of the United States Postal Service (USPS) employees' retirement plan, says Post Master General John E. Potter. This revelation comes after a review of the USPS' pension liabilities by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. The review found that the current formula contained overly conservative interest assumptions under which the USPS contributes for its employees' retirement, creating an overpayment of pension liabilities. Changes in the payment schedule will require a modification of the current law by Congress. This necessary change in the law would mean a reduction of postal