Direct Mail

Thanks to U.S. laws banning more than two consecutive presidential terms, in November, there won’t be anyone outside the White House chanting: “Four more years!”. Instead, there is an exciting race for a new candidate to step into office, embodying hope and change. For years, the USPS has held sovereign control over rate cases, without regulations in place, like the consecutive-term legislation, to protect public interest. “One of the big issues under the old laws was whether the then Postal Rate Commission (PRC) had the authority to look at the size of the piece of pie that the Postal Service was asking for and

Following the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) May 12 rate increases, consumers and businesses frequently using USPS for shipping can save money through authorized online postage vendors, such as Palo Alto, California-based Endicia. In response to the rate change, Endicia announced its full line of Internet postage shipping solutions will be updated and streamlined to support the new prices. To that end, Endicia is hosting a series of educational, 30-minute webinars entitled “May 12, 2008 USPS Price Change—Endicia Makes It Easy,” led by Senior Product Specialist, Mike Colegate. Colegate explains the new discounts, USPS offerings, shipping pricing and more. “With the webinars, Endicia

Auto dealers are receiving the brunt of current economic problems, including swelling gas prices, a slowing economy and a credit crisis. Yet, new vehicle dealerships are still a boon to retail sales in the United States—accounting for 20 percent of all retail sales in the country at more then 675 billion dollars in sales per year, according to the National Auto Dealer Association’s 2007 study. Collectively, the more than 20,000 U.S. new vehicle dealerships recorded in the study spend annually a total of 7.8 billion dollars on advertising, with each dealer spending an average of $37,029 or 10 percent of its advertising budget on

By Maggie DeWitt Looking to provide direct mail customers with extra value-added service? Or, are you looking to do more with less through advanced technology? Then you’ll want to know about this month’s mystery product. In addition to direct mail, the product serves numerous healthcare- and government-related applications. Check out the following clues to guess what the item is: • It packs the greatest amount of data into the smallest space. • It enables data to be encoded in both the horizontal and vertical dimensions. • It takes a well-established tool to a whole new dimension in the quest to capture information.

This article originally appeared in the February 2008 issue of Inside Direct Mail, a sister publication of Print Professional. For more information, visit www.insidedirectmail.com.) For our 20th anniversary issue in 2004, the Inside Direct Mail editors revisited the industry’s biggest trends and evolution with direct mail experts. Remember when AOL mailed the first diskette in 1993, or when National Geographic Travel rolled out with a billboard postcard and a smaller postcard rode along in a plastic pouch? Since then, the direct mail industry has come a long way. With the rapid increases in technology, new marketing platforms, retiring baby boomers leaving the work

The deadline-driven lifestyle of today’s professional requires efficient and convenient means of communication. E-mail, in particular, provides instant gratification for the “think fast” individual with a single click of the send button. However, e-mail lacks the personal touch experienced with an envelope. According to a 2007 survey conducted by International Communications Research on behalf of Pitney Bowes, 73 percent of the participating consumers indicated a preference for receiving new product announcements and offers from companies through mail; a whopping 86 percent of consumers named mail as their preference for receiving confidential communications, including bills and bank statements. Granted, e-commerce has impacted traditional mail-based

Nothing is forever, and politicians are using this sentiment to their advantage. As degrees of economic uncertainty and political turmoil continue to fluctuate, the success of candidates vying for control of the White House hinges on platforms advocating change. Currently, direct mail is a key industry particularly affected by change—with no immediate end in sight. In accordance with The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, the costs of mailing services will be adjusted each May. The price for a one-ounce First-Class stamp will increase from $0.41 to $0.42 on May 12, for instance. Furthermore, within the last year, practices and products such as shape-based pricing

Headquartered in Rochester, N.Y., Kodak announced that Graphic Arts Monthly (GAM) selected its NexPress S3000 digital production color press to print the magazine’s February 2008 cover. The issue also includes extensive coverage of the AIIM/On Demand digital printing trade show. The cover features a striking photograph of an apricot, requiring a shade of orange that can be difficult for digital presses to reproduce. However, the NexPress S3000 has a larger color gamut than traditional offset-based SWOP specifications, so the vibrant orange color was easily and accurately printed. A custom URL, www.graphics.kodak.com/gam, was set up especially for GAM readers. Kodak used the

Bob Makofsky, general manager for Conformer Expansion Products (www.conformerinc.com), Great Neck, N.Y. offers insights and advice to help nonprofits navigate the new postal regulations. The seven percent increase in standard mail rates is easy enough to understand, but in my conversations with both nonprofit and business executives, I’ve found that many don’t understand the new “shape-based” system. Not surprising, since the new classifications are complex and require a whole new way of thinking about how you package premiums, calendars, annual reports and other large pieces. While you may be confused about the new system, the effect on your budget is crystal clear. And

It’s a winning formula for Hollywood blockbusters—a small town, major city, even planet Earth as a whole, finds itself under attack by some monstrosity. But, when an intruder abandons the big screen and infiltrates our mailboxes, it becomes personal. Of course, monsters aren’t hiding in our mailboxes waiting to attack as we retrieve the contents; nevertheless, a deluge of unsolicited direct mail can be just as horrific to find. To make matters worse, unlike the movies, there is no director to shout “Cut!” Unless we stay on top of paper disposal, we will soon be buried on the living room floor under mountains of