Men's Health
The "Amazing Abs" magalog from Men's Health recently mailed with a new lower price--sort of. 
The main subscription price of the soft offer dropped from $21.97 to $19.97 for 10 issues (1 free), but its shipping charge increased from $2.97 to $4.97. The net effect in both cases is that the customer pays $24.94. In general, shipping charges on subscription offers are an infrequent, but common enough, pricing tactic that encourages prospects to perceive the cost differently. If the $4.97 price point sticks, it will be a new high water mark. To date, the highest shipping charge has been $4, used for select titles from Meredith and Conde Nast.
Make-A-Wish Foundation
Fundraisers soliciting via e-mail is still a rare occurrence, perhaps because direct mail allows for multiple incentives, freemiums and premiums to elicit donations--all techniques much more difficult to execute in an e-mail. However, a few mailers have found ways to make the most of the e-mail medium. The Make-A-Wish Foundation, for instance, has partnered with apparel merchant Gap. Those wishing to donate don't have to contribute any of their own money, and therefore no tangible incentive is necessary. Recipients simply click the provided link and Gap will donate 5 cents to specific chapters of the Make-A-Wish Foundation (up to a maximum contribution of $10,000). No purchase is necessary, although Gap is not completely selfless in its role, as the landing page prominently features opportunities to shop Gap online.
Home Trends
Starting in May 2001, home care cataloger Home Trends began promoting its "New Lower Shipping Prices!" 
Since then, Home Trends has made the most of this appealing incentive by featuring it not only on the catalog cover, but also in the personalized ink-jet messaging by the address box ("Low Low Shipping Prices!"), on the inside front cover ("Warning! Low Shipping Prices!"), with slashed-out prior shipping costs for comparison and, finally, printed right across the order form itself. In actuality, Home Trends has increased five of its six USPS shipping prices since April. But because Home Trends offers its customers two distinct shipping tiers for USPS vs. UPS, it does make good on its lower shipping promise by cutting all but one of its UPS price points. As the UPS prices--even reduced--are more expensive than the newly increased USPS shipping costs, many consumers will continue to look more favorably on the USPS option. Still, by reducing prices where it can, Home Trends makes its increases a little easier to swallow, and puts a positive spin on what might otherwise be perceived by customers as yet another reason not to shop by mail.
The direct mail pieces appearing in Mail Stream are tracked and analyzed by Paradysz Matera, New York, through its online competitive direct mail and e-mail tracking tool MarketRelevance. Market Relevance tracks and archives more than 25,000 direct mail pieces and e-mail promotions annually generated from the catalog, publishing, fundraising, dot com and financial industries. The pieces are scanned as images and analyzed for changes in creative, copy, offer and type of incentive or promotion. The results are recorded along with the piece's in-home date.
