Trends in Print and Mail

For the second year in a row, over 4,000 people came together at the National Postal Forum (NPF). This year’s conference in San Antonio marked the 50th anniversary of the NPF. Things have changed a lot since 1968, and the 3 words that sum up the US Postal Service’s (USPS) message throughout the show were: informed, integrated and disruptive.

What are your plans for the upcoming National Postal Forum (NPF), May 6 – 10, 2018 in San Antonio, TX?

The Berkshire Company is excited to announce the publication of the 2018 edition of our popular eBook - 110 Tips to Improve Your Mail Center.

There’s still snow on the ground in my backyard, but I’m thinking about the warm weather down in Texas. That’s because I just received my catalog for the 2018 National Postal Forum (NPF) – May 6 – 9, 2018 in beautiful San Antonio.

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.

Last week was one of the largest National Postal Forums (NPF) in a decade, with more than 4,400 people attending the show over 4 days. With the theme of “Make Informed Connections”, the NPF was filled with opportunities for vendors to connect with customers, mailers to connect with postal executives, and industry professionals to connect with each other.

What are your plans for upcoming National Postal Forum (NPF), May 21 – 24, 2017 in Baltimore, MD?

The theme for this year’s NPF is “Making Informed Connections”. That includes networking with fellow mail professionals, vendors, and officials from the U.S. Postal Service. We’re especially looking forward to Postmaster General Megan Brennan’s keynote on Monday morning and hearing her take on the ratemaking review and the most recent attempt at postal reform legislation.

Are you attending the National Postal Forum (NPF) in Baltimore this May? If yes, we’d like to extend this invitation to join The Berkshire Company as we lend a hand to the Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake on Saturday, May 20, 2017.

Exigent postage rate increases were repealed. The upcoming rates changes will have some positive impact for First Class Mailers. Selecting vendor-partners, for technology or outsourcing services, remains a challenge. And legislative reform was seriously considered by Congress – before ultimately deciding to do nothing. These were just a few of the major stories impacting our industry over the last year.

We here at The Berkshire Company can't predict what changes 2017 will bring, but we do know more changes are on the horizon – from the implementation of “USPS Marketing Mail” to new technologies to reinforcing good management practices. We plan on covering those, and other issues, in the coming year. If there’s a particular topic you’d like to see covered, leave a note in the comments, or send me an email at mmf@berkshire-company.com.

In case you missed them, here are the 10 most read posts from 2016:

The next National Postal Forum (NPF) is scheduled for May 21-24, 2017 at the Baltimore Convention Center. The NPF has announced their call for proposals for sessions and workshops for the conference. The deadline to complete the Workshop Presentation Form online is Friday, October 7th, 2016.

The Berkshire Company has been a proud supporter of the NPF since we started the company in 2001. Our president, Mark Fallon, has been an NPF presenter for over 20 years. We also deliver those same presentations – at no charge – to Postal Customer Councils and other professional mailing associations around the country.

We’d like your input on what classes we should propose for the 2017 NPF. We’ve set up a very brief poll – only 2 questions – on SurveyMonkey. The first question asks what past sessions we should present again, and the second asks for your ideas on what new classes we should develop. We request that you consider what presentations you’d like to attend, as well as what training will be helpful to new attendees.

With a deadline of October 7th for us to submit proposals to the NPF, we’re asking that you complete the survey by Friday, September 23, 2016. Responses can be submitted anonymously, or you can add your name and email to be eligible for a $50 gift card. We’ll draw 2 names from all responses received by 5:00PM PDT on September 23rd.

We remain dedicated to providing the most relevant training for industry professionals. Thanks in advance for your input in developing the next workshops and sessions.