Mailing/Fulfillment - Postal Trends

Sprint Nextel is switching to a two-in-one reusable envelope, the ecoEnvelope, which allows customers to receive and remit payment using the same envelope—making bill payment easier, minimizing mail costs, reducing paper use, and the lowering environmental impact of bill paying

For every dollar it spends on delivering newspapers and magazines, USPS claims it only receives 75 cents in postage. Meanwhile, notes the Columbia Journalism Review, magazine publishers are growing worried about the increase in customer complaints regarding lost, damaged and late issue. They fear coming changes will only make matters worse.

Maybe the Postal Service would be better off loosening its grip on the mailbox monopoly by granting an exception for periodicals. (After all, whoever heard of a money-losing monopoly?) Not only would the agency lose unprofitable customers, it could actually charge the publishers a fee for each mailbox they use.

During July and August, the Postal Service is offering a 2-percent discount on Standard Mail and First-Class Mail that includes a two-dimensional barcode or other print/mobile technology. Mailers must register for the Mobile Commerce and Personalization Promotion by Aug. 30.

The U.S. Postal Service ended its second quarter with a net loss of $3.2 billion, compared to a net loss of $2.2 billion for the same period last year. The quarter also saw a decline in Standard Mail, attributable to a drop in direct mail advertising spending across a number of sectors as sales prospecting slowed in certain sectors, advertisers used more selective targeting methods and competition from electronic advertising media increased.

Welcome to my everything-is-backward, what-are-we-coming-to, bizarro blog this week. Ever since the Senate passed the postal reform bill that delays elimination of Saturday delivery by two years and slows the shutdown of mail processing facilities, it seems like everything is the exact opposite of what I would think.

It’s looking increasingly unlikely that the House and Senate will agree on a plan to save the Postal Service by May 15, when a moratorium on closing postal processing plants expires. Rep. Darrell Issa of California, who has authored a House plan to save the Postal Service, called the Senate bill “wholly unacceptable.”

Aides say Republican leaders don’t feel pressured to take up the House bill right away, because they’re not worried about postal closures. In fact, the House legislation paves the way for more closures, as well as the end of Saturday service.

The House bill also breaks union contracts,

The Nielsen study revealed that direct mail pieces in real envelopes (printed envelopes as well as standard envelopes) still generate the highest open and read rates when compared to self-mailers, wrappers and emails as the diagram demonstrates.

The Senate is set to resume consideration Wednesday of a bill overhauling the U.S. Postal Service after agreeing to change the bill to set limits on when and how the agency could close small rural post offices. Senators are considering 39 amendments to the massive bipartisan bill.

Among the changes approved Tuesday, senators agreed to strengthen the appeals process for customers opposed to closing a post office; to force USPS to wait until after Election Day to close postal facilities in states that permit voting by mail; and to permit the Postal Service to co-locate post offices in government-owned buildings to

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) on Monday said he is putting forward an amendment to a postal reform bill that would end what he calls the “corporate welfare” associated with current law that requires the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to provide some services to companies at a loss.

“Current law...actually mandates that the PO provide some services at a loss,” Corker said on the floor.

...his amendment to the 21st Century Postal Service act, S. 1789, would eliminate current law that limits the ability of the USPS to raise the price of some services.

Senators spent most of the week debating a measure to overhaul the Postal Service by giving it $11 billion to offer buyouts to hundreds of thousands of employees, to eventually end six-day mail delivery—if it is is deemed financially necessary—and to possibly end delivery of mail to door-side mailboxes in favor of more centralized locations.

Late Thursday, Senate leaders agreed to a list of at least 38 amendments—but aides said the list likely will be shortened to fewer than 20 in time for votes on the amendments and final passage of the bill next Tuesday.