Trends in Print and Mail

On February 9, 2018, The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) released the financial results for the first quarter of their fiscal year (October 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017). No one anticipated good news, but the numbers were worse than expected. The USPS posted a net loss for the first quarter of $540 million, compared to net income of $1.4 billion, for the same period last year. The first quarter is usually the strongest quarter with the added volumes of shipping and mailing for the holidays.

There are diverse types of mail centers ranging from small inbound operations staffed by 3 employees to large production operations that print and mail a million pieces a day. No matter what type of work you process, the layout and design of your mail center has a direct impact on your effectiveness and efficiency.

The 5 key principles and concepts when designing a mail center are:

On Sunday, January 21, 2018, the new US Postal Service (USPS) postage rates and rules go into effect, so mailers need to take action to be properly prepared. For most mailers, the first day of mailing under the new rates will be Monday, January 22, 2018. The new rates represent about a 1.9% increase over the current prices for mailing, or “Market Dominant” products and 3.9% increases for shipping, or “competitive” products.

A new administration and a new congress took office in 2017. Along with those changes, there was a brief hope for legislative reform when a joint bill was passed by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. As the President and the Senate majority are from the same party, perhaps nominees to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Board of Governors would be approved.

However, the legislation has since stalled and the Senate hasn’t scheduled any hearings on the nominees. Letter mail volumes – for both First Class Mail and USPS Marketing Mail – have declined. The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) announced their findings and proposed rulemaking after completing the mandatory 10-year review of the system for regulating postage rates for Market Dominant products – and the responses from industry and USPS leadership have been negative. Mergers and acquisitions of service providers continue at a brisk pace.

Roaming through a used book store, I came across "Writing with a Word Processor" by William Zinsser. Written in 1983, the book chronicles Zinsser teaching himself how to use an IBM Displaywriter – one of the first office word processors. More than just a look back to the adoption of modern technology, the book provides some insight to what we can expect in the future – less paper.

On Friday, December 1, 2017, The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) announced their findings and proposed rulemaking after completing the mandatory 10-year review of the system for regulating postage rates for Market Dominant products. The review and the proposed rulemaking documents can be downloaded on the PRC’s website.

Background

When Congress passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) in 2006, the annual increase in postage rates for market dominant prices was tied to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Customers (CPI-U). The CPI-U excludes rural populations and represents approximately 80% of the population.

There were 9 stated objectives of the new system:

Last week, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) released their financial results for FY2017. Revenues and expenses both declined, and their reported losses were $2.7 billion. On cue – critics of the USPS, along with reporters who didn’t read beyond the first paragraph of the financial report, declared that the USPS is on an inevitable path to bankruptcy and irrelevance.

Here’s what they missed:+ Read More

Most commercial mail today doesn’t have a stamp or postage meter indicia, but bear a permit imprint. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) rules for permit imprints are covered in the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM), Section 604.5 – “Permit Imprint (Indicia)”. In the era of the Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMb), the rules are out of date, and need an overhaul.

Last week, President Trump nominated 3 people for the 9 open seats on the United States Postal Service (USPS) Board of Governors (Board). Because the Senate hasn’t confirmed any nominees since 2009, there are no presidentially-appointed members of the Board. The terms were designed to be staggered,  so there are several open seats with terms expiring in the near future.

The new nominees represent a mix of political and management qualifications. 

My bank gave me a choice – receive my monthly statement online, or pay a fee for a paper copy. For my car loan, the interest rate would be a point lower if I accepted automatic withdrawal and online notices. My utility company prints a request on every bill – and envelope – to pay electronically. As a consultant, I’ve seen several clients in these industries replace physical mail with digital documents.

One industry that has trailed on the move to digital has been healthcare – both providers and payers. Challenges include systems integration, member and patient preferences, and of course, federal and state regulations. Due to interpretations of the Affordable Care Act, many healthcare companies saw an increase in their volumes of physical mail beginning in 2013.

Until recently.