After anthrax was contained in envelopes sent through the mail, the Direct Marketing Association on Monday sent to members suggestions for making direct mail more secure. Also on Monday, the United States Postal Service formed a task force on mail security.
The most important suggestions are about envelope creative, said H. Robert Wientzen, president of the DMA. Use a clear and identifiable return address and avoid using plain white envelopes. “Those using color are less likely to appear like the hand-prepared envelopes involved in the incidents so far,” the DMA statement said.
Other suggestions: Put the company logo on the envelope along with an 800 number or URL, so customers can contact the mailer.
“I suspect we’ll have more members considering multi-channel efforts,” Wientzen said, in an interview. “We recommend an e-mail campaign telling people the mail is on the way. Also, companies could consider using postcards instead–since there’s no way to enclose anything in them.”
The USPS task force held its first meeting on Monday, and will continue meeting daily for the foreseeable future, said Postmaster General John E. Potter from the National Postal Forum in Denver.
The goal is to educate postal employees and the public about what to look for in potentially dangerous items and to see if any new safety and security procedures need to be developed.
Joining the task force are postal managers, union leaders, the post office safety and medical and operations group, postal inspectors and members of the mailing industry.
Anthrax appears to have been contained in at least three mail pieces to date. The most recent is a letter opened Senate majority leader Tom Daschle’s office in which a white substance fell out. President Bush made this revelation during a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Mail deliveries at the Capitol were suspended.
An NBC News employee in New York opened an envelope on Sept. 25, in which a powdery substance fell out. According to a statement by NBC, the employee tested positive for the cutaneous (skin) anthrax infection.
At American Media Inc. in Boca Raton, FL, the employee who died of anthrax infection on Oct. 5, had inhaled the anthrax bacteria that was possibly spread from the company’s mail room.
Across the nation, 12 individuals have been exposed to anthrax. Investigations are ongoing.
Calling the chain of events (the economic downturn, Sept. 11 attacks and anthrax scares) “the most challenging time I consider in my 30-plus years in business,” Wientzen said, the association will next week consider reducing its growth projections for the year.
After the events of Sept. 11, projections for direct marketing-industry growth was reduced from 3.6% t0 3.3%. Next week, the group will consider reducing the projections even more.
But Wientzen called for calm and common sense.
“We don’t think it’s a significant threat, but we do think it’s a significant problem if people’s perceptions are such that they are worried about direct mail,” he said. “I think that some consumers will be very cautious about direct mail, although I don’t think it will have a significant effect on opening rates.
“People need to be assured that the mail is coming from a legitimate company,” he added.
Other suggestions include: briefly delaying a business-to-business campaign to avoid logjams in mailrooms; perform a security audit; and contact production-service partners to emphasize importance of security.
On Friday, the United States Postal Service put out a release to reassure the public that it is maintaining safe and secure mail service. In a Q and A updated on Monday, the postal service provided facts about anthrax and explained what to do if an anthrax threat comes by mail. Don’t handle the mail piece; wash if you did touch the mail piece; isolate the piece; and contact the mail inspection service, said the statement.
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