By Billy House

September 5, 2013 | 7:30 p.m.

The U.S. Postal Service on Thursday postponed until late September its decision on whether to request a postal-rate increase—which some outside groups have said they fear could reach as high as 10 percent.
A statement released by the Postal Service’s board of governors confirmed that the panel met Thursday and, as part of its agenda in a closed-door meeting, “considered pricing issues, including the possibility of filing for price adjustments.”
The governors, the statement said, “continue to listen to stakeholders and have postponed final pricing decisions until the next scheduled Board of Governors meeting” scheduled for Sept. 24 and 25.
The board is weighing the move as the Postal Service continues to bleed money—as much as $19 billion since early 2012. The increased costs would hit everyone, including individuals who put a stamp on a piece of mail. Coalitions and groups that represent big mailers—like magazines, newspapers, and direct-marketing groups—have been lobbying aggressively against any big hike.
Members of Congress led by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., have been wrestling with ways to cut the Postal Service’s costs, such as ending Saturday mail delivery.
“It’s an agency in crisis,” Issa said this summer, “but it’s also an entity that must be saved, but it’s an entity that needs to trim costs.”
Postal-rate increases are capped at inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index. That would mean an allowable increase of about 2 percent for implementation in January.
But a 2006 law also allows the Postal Service to seek a higher rate increase beyond the CPI in instances of “exigent” circumstances—and that is what is under consideration now. Such requests are to be made to the Postal Regulatory Commission, which has 90 days to pass them.
In 2010, the Postal Service submitted a request for an exigent rate increase of 5.6 percent—far avove the CPI cap—that would have brought in more than $3 billion annually. But the mailers fought that increase in court and it was derailed.
Some of the same groups that lobbied against that hike said Thursday they were encouraged by the decision to delay a new formal request for such an “exigent” rate increase.
“This action affords us additional time to work with them and detail the devastating impact a rate increase would have on the mailing industry and the 8.4 million jobs that depend on it,” said Mary Berner, president and CEO of the Association of Magazine Media, in a statement.
“It also gives us, the Postal Service, and the entire mailing industry additional time to continue working in concert to convince Congress that the solution to the Postal Service’s problems lies not in rate increases, but in meaningful postal-reform legislation,” she said.

This article appears in the Sept. 6, 2013, edition of National Journal Daily.

July 25, 2013 (Press Release) – In an international survey from Two Sides carried out by research company Toluna, 2,500 consumers were asked their opinion on a variety of billing and statement related issues with a focus on the present supplier pressure to switch to electronic bills and statements; ‘e-billing’.
Key Findings:
• 60% of consumers state they would not choose a company which did not offer a paper bill.
• 12% of consumers and 20% of 25 – 34 year olds, say they have switched to a new provider when a charge for paper based bills was imposed.
• 8% of consumers and 16% of 25 – 34 year olds, say they have switched providers because paper bills were withdrawn.
• 57% of consumers overall, 66% of 18 – 25 year olds, and 60% of 25 -34 year olds, believe a paper bill option is still quite or very important when choosing a new supplier.
• 93% of consumers say they are unwilling to pay for paper bills.
• 89% of consumers want to be able to switch between paper and e-bills without difficulty and cost
• 42% prefer to receive financial services bills by post only and 37% prefer to receive utility bills by post only. For financial services, post is the preferred option overall.
• 21% of consumers would refuse to switch to electronic bills and statements when asked to do so.
• 69% of consumers say that postal bills offer better record keeping and 65% say they are easier to check. 48% state that postal bills offer more security and 46% say bills and statements printed on paper are easier to read than off a screen.
• 38% of consumers are clearly ‘home printers’ with 26% printing up to 20% of their bills and 7% printing out between 80% and 100% of their bills.
Consumers are suspicious of environmental claims and appear confused by the environmental arguments used in the promotion of e-billing. Statements such as, “Go Green, Go Digital”, “Save Trees, Go Paperless” can do damage to corporate reputations.
• 15% do not believe claims such as “Go Green, Go Digital”, “Save Trees, Go Paperless”. 14% feel mislead and 29% question the validity of these sort of claims.
• 49% of consumers believe that companies are switching to e-billing in order to reduce environmental impact but the majority, 87%, agree that cost savings are the main driver.
• 67% have seen statements saying that e-billing is better for the environment and 63% believe e-billing has a lower environmental impact. However 71% understand that print and paper can be a sustainable way to communicate.
Martyn Eustace, Director of Two Sides, comments, “The Survey shows that whilst electronic billing and statements are now becoming a standard billing method, consumers still want hard copy by post, or a combination of post and e-mail, and there are signs of frustration, from a significant section of consumers, with the tactics used to move consumers from post to e-mail. There is also mistrust of the motivation behind the pressure to switch”
The survey reveals for billers a danger of losing customers if consumers are pushed unwillingly to move to e-billing or subjected to cost penalties. A majority of consumers declare they will not choose companies that do not offer paper bills and are unconvinced about misleading environmental claims.
Eustace continues, “E-billing can be convenient however consumers are seeing through the dubious reasons billers give for changing to e-bills, such as ‘better for the environment’, and realise that their bill provider is just seeking to reduce costs. With 38% of consumers, now at their cost, printing all or some of their bills, the term ‘paper free billing’ must be challenged.
Over 33% of UK households do not own a computer and a properly printed and detailed paper bill is a basic necessity to monitor and record regular expenditure. Billing companies clearly need to review their strategies which are leading to the disenchantment of their customers and disenfranchisement of a significant part of the population. Consumer choice appears to have become a casualty of the digital revolution when it comes to billing.”
Over the past Two Years Two Sides has worked with major billing companies to counter misleading ‘Greenwash’. 80% of the marketing messages which tempted consumers to ‘go online’ because it’s ‘better for the environment’ have been withdrawn. There is growing evidence that digital communications have a significant environmental footprint and, responsible used, paper can be the sustainable way to communicate.
The report is available for Two Sides members. For further information visit: www.twosides.info.

SOURCE: Two Sides

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=T8gatIc7FBw

USPS to See Real Time Tracking in All Locations by Years End
Jul 01, 2013 1:43 PM By Erin Lynch

The United States Postal Service expects to see real time tracking in all 67 of its districts by the end of 2013.

The USPS introduced the intelligent mail device, also known as IMD Wireless, in January 2013, and is currently being used in 55,000 post offices nationwide. The IMD’s work as a “companion device” to the USPS’s current intelligent mail data acquisition system scanner, which provides wireless transmission of data, according to a USPS press release. (more…)

ESTHER J. CEPEDA
Published: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at 5:30 a.m.

But I’m with him on this one.

Truth be told, reading “Joyland” will be a minor inconvenience — if one can reasonably say such a thing about acquiring and consuming a bound, paper tome filled with the master storyteller’s hanging-on-the-edge-of-your-seat words. My choices will be to either haul myself out to a faraway bricks-and-mortar bookstore or wait for a mail shipment.

I’ll cope while letting King’s latest novel transport me to the not-so-distant past when I used to be able to read for hours without the unwanted interruptions of email dings, Facebook alerts, Twitter mentions, calendar notifications, text messages, and my nearly pathological desire to share a beautifully crafted sentence or two with my social media networks. (more…)

Direct Mail Tops In ROI, Say B2C Marketers; Email Delivers for B2B
Direct Marketing

March 2013 — Direct mail is the channel cited most by B2C direct response marketers as delivering the strongest ROI for customer acquisition and retention, according to Target Marketing Seventh Annual Media Usage Forecast survey of nearly 250 U.S. marketers.
In 2007, the first year Target Marketing conducted their annual survey of marketers’ media spending plans, 91% of responding marketers used direct mail — topping all other direct marketing channels. At that time, 85% were using email, 63% used search and social wasn’t even a topic. (more…)

Paper Recycling: A Great American Success Story!
Think about this: In 2012, more than 51 million tons of paper products were voluntarily recovered for recycling in the U.S. – that’s 65.1% of all paper produced. Break that down into a number we can relate to individually and you get roughly 323 pounds recycled for every man, woman and child in the country. When you consider that one ream of 8.5” x 11” office paper weighs about 5 pounds … well, you get the picture. (more…)

The Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service met April 9 and discussed the
Continuing Resolution recently passed by Congress to fund government operations. By including restrictive language in the Continuing Resolution, Congress has prohibited implementation of a new national delivery schedule for mail and packages, which would consist of package delivery Monday through Saturday and mail delivery Monday through Friday, and which would have taken effect the week of Aug. 5, 2013. (more…)

Postmaster General Says Technology is Making Mail More Powerful

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

SAN FRANCISCO — Technology and changing consumer expectations are helping to transform mail into an even more powerful communications channel, Postmaster General and CEO Patrick R. Donahoe told the nation’s largest annual gathering of mailing industry leaders today. (more…)

To help marketers prepare earlier for its upcoming mail promotions, the U.S. Postal Service for the first time is publishing a yearly promotions calendar. The 2013 Mailing Services Promotions Calendar will include six promotions designed to generate continued interest in the various uses and benefits of mobile barcodes in direct mail as well as provide opportunities for marketers to be more successful with traditional integrated marketing campaigns. (more…)