DEPENDING ON your point of view, the news out of San Francisco is either devastating or a continued call to arms in the battle against Do Not Mail proponents and their efforts at passing legislation at the state and federal levels.
SAN FRANCISCO—The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a non-binding resolution Tuesday calling on the state of California and the U.S. Congress to create a Do Not Mail registry. The board approved the resolution, sponsored by supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, by a 9-2 vote.
WASHINGTON, DC—Days after announcing cost-cutting initiatives designed to save more than $100 million a year, Postmaster General John Potter told a House subcommittee that without aid, the U.S. Postal Service will run out of money this year. The USPS lost $2.8 billion in 2008 and stands to fall deeper into the red this year, its business exacerbated by the weak economy and a drastic decline in mail volume.
The United States Postal Service has put out the following Request for Information (RFI) regarding proposals for a third party to manage its change-of-address (COA) program:
EVEN THOUGH mailing and database management services have been around since the 1980s, a substantial number of printers expanded into this highly technical (and profitable) market as competition heated up with the new millennium. Today, more printers are continuing to invest in these capabilities in spite of—or, perhaps, because of—the bleak economy. After all, the weaker the financial outlook, the more important it is for service providers to ensure a bigger bang for their clients’ shrinking print dollars.
WASHINGTON, DC—Citing a nine billion piece reduction in mail volume during 2008, U.S. Postal Service Postmaster General John Potter asked Congress this week to drop the requirement of delivering mail six days per week. Potter noted the USPS was $2.8 billion in the red during 2008, and that the loss could climb as high as $6 billion this year.
BATON ROUGE, LA—A printing job mailed out by the Louisiana Department of Revenue accidentally exposed the personal information of nearly 300 taxpayers to other people with tax debts, according to the Associated Press. The department said letters that were mailed to taxpayers who owed money included the name, address, social security number and debt amount for a different taxpayer on the other side of the document. The state agency says it has no reason to suspect the personal information has been misused.
With mail volumes continuing to dwindle and added costs mandated by the Postal Act of 2006, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) finished its 2008 fiscal year with a net loss of $2.8 billion. The loss came despite cost-cutting measures in excess of $2 billion, including 50 million fewer work hours.
ASKING WHAT kind of impact that a recessional economy has on direct mail campaigns is like asking how many beach-goers will be turned away by an approaching hurricane. Sure, there are those who will want to brave it, but most people prefer to take a wait-and-see approach somewhere safe.
WASHINGTON, DC—With mail volumes continuing to dwindle and added costs mandated by the Postal Act of 2006, the U.S. Postal Service finished its 2008 fiscal year with a net loss of $2.8 billion. The loss came despite cost-cutting measures in excess of $2 billion, including 50 million fewer work hours. However, mail volume plummeted by 9.5 billion pieces to 202.7 billion, a decline of 4.5 percent compared to 2007. The USPS also cited the national economy and the use of electronic mail as reasons for the decline.
