I apologize to the Bay City Rollers for the title. But I thought it might prove tonic for those of us who, bombarded by advertising and reviews of the movie “Mamma Mia!”, have had Abba tunes bouncing around our craniums for the last few days.
Alas, I’m about to replace one potential headache with another: In late June, the House Appropriations Committee approved legislation requiring the U.S. Postal Service to study the cost effectiveness and fuel-consumption benefits of eliminating Saturday mail delivery.
Industry Chicken Littles should back up and read that again. Saturday mail delivery has not been eliminated, nor is it likely to be anytime soon. The full bodies of both Congressional chambers have to approve this legislation. Even if it flies through the lawmaking process (this is an election year, and congressfolk are distracted, so don’t bet on it) all that’s being approved is a study.
Now, it’s worth noting is that every time there is a postal rate increase, advertising mail costs take it on the chin so first-class mail costs can be kept down. This is done with an eye toward keeping it inexpensive to send a letter to Aunt Minnie, as the most sanctimonious of our legislators thunder from their podiums.
Never mind that Aunt Minnie is probably e-mailing her heart out. At a minimum, she’s got one of those telemaphone thingamabobs. And there is a phrase or two tucked into the crevices of the amendment asking the Postal Service to take into account consumer demand for six-day-a-week delivery, which is mighty nice of Congress, if I do say so myself.
But if concern for Aunt Minnie has fallen by the wayside – and the unanimous vote of the Appropriations Committee for the study suggests it has -- one can only imagine how little the concerns of marketers would be considered, if past rate increases are any indication of the way Congress views mailers.
At first blush, eliminating Saturday mail seems somewhat punitive. Saturday is the one day that offers mail delivery when a majority of consumers are at leisure. This has to affect how mail is sorted and read, at least a little. Granted, given the unreliability of exact-day delivery for non-premium mail options, it’s hard to imagine a DMer banking heavily on a given mail piece getting into the hands of a given consumer on a given day.
A few questions, then: Is Saturday different enough from all other days that direct marketers take advantage of it? Might there be a better day to cut, if a day’s delivery must be eliminated?
I’m sure marketers, especially those still receiving payments via the mail, wouldn’t want to give up Monday delivery. Eliminating Friday delivery would mean losing a chance to pitch consumers at the gate of the weekend. But surely one of the midweek Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday triumvirate should be considered as well?
Or is this a non-issue for mailers? Has marketing moved online to an extent that the appropriate reaction to this is a shrug and a resigned “As you wish”?
If, in the future, mailers do lose Saturday delivery, I’d hope the industry could use this particular hardship (if it can be portrayed as a hardship) to wrangle some sort of concession from the Postal Service, such as guaranteed reductions in delivery time for the advertising-reliant mail classes.
Mailers, the floor – in the form of our letters section – is yours. Please indicate in your response whether your reply is for publication or not.
To respond to this column, please contact richard.levey@penton.com.
