Welcome to Broker Roundtable, where each week we ask list brokers to give their opinions on issues that matter to the marketing community. This week's question: How much have the U.S. Postal Service's annual summer postage sales helped the industry?
Our panel includes Geoff Batrouney of Estee Marketing Services Inc.; Becky Hagadorn of Carney Direct; and Michael Peterman of Veradata. Would you like to be considered to be a member of our roundtable? Contact Larry Riggs ([email protected]).
Geoff Batrouney, executive vice president, Estee Marketing Services Inc.:
You know, that's a very good question. If the program was a failure, it would not be repeated three years in a row, right? On the other hand, if the program is a success, I wonder why we have not seen press releases and editorial content from the USPS trumpeting the numbers. What are the numbers, by the way? I cannot point to a single client who has called me up and said "Gee that was fantastic. We saved five figures. Way to go postal service!" My personal opinion is that the program probably sounded great in the conference room at USPS headquarters, but the rules made it difficult for more than a select few very, very large mailers to participate. Let's see what the USPS tells us in the next month or so.
Becky Hagadorn, vice president, new business development, Carney Direct:
Certainly the larger mailers have benefited somewhat from these summer postage sales. The volume a smaller marketer places may not have put a dent in their spending especially since many are seasonal mailers. The real value would be if the sales were held in the winter but that might be too obvious.
Regardless, as direct marketers we still must consider that the U.S postage is still one of the cheapest in the world only to be followed by five other countries which would probably fit into the state of Texas. No one should deny that the postal service needs some fixing but perhaps we should consider focusing our attention and grievances on printer ink manufacturers and the high cost of gas instead of continuing to beat up the injured gorilla in the room. The USPS is in fact only the messenger.
Michael Peterman, CEO, and VeraData:
In my business this hasn't had much impact, perhaps because our company predominantly serves the nonprofit community. The sales haven't been able to offset the economic challenges. It's nice for mailers to save a little money, but I haven't experienced a single case where our commercial clients were scheduling mail activity based on the summer postage sales. Bottom line is that while it was a decent idea, the process was pretty cumbersome. My understanding of the whole set-up is that it was administratively heavy with paperwork, etc.
I believe that the few clients who tried it were initially enamored when the USPS first announced it, and then subsequently denounced it. Basically the reward or the recoup was not worthwhile for them to continue. From what Ican tell, the summer postage sale hasn't achieved the desired result. From a marketing perspective, I thought that while the USPS did a good job in introducing the concept, there seemed to be a lack of constant public relations and marketing efforts to keep the initiative going and in front of their clients. Automation would have helped as well.
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