The U.S. Postal Service is about to give Standard A (advertising) and first class mailers a new option for processing presorted letter-size mail.
Beginning April 1, mailers can exclude presorted, trayed letter-size mail from the initial automation process, by adding the words “Manual Only” to the tray label. Automation includes tabbing and labeling machines, barcode sorters and optical character-reader machines.
While the average cost of processing 1,000 letters through automation is about $5 compared with nearly $60 for manual processing, the USPS has not indicated if a mailer choosing the manual processing option would be charged additional postage for each piece that is processed manually.
Books weighing up to 3.3 ounces can ride along with polybagged magazines
The U.S. Postal Service late last month began a two-year experiment allowing catalogs weighing up to 3.3 ounces to ride along with polybagged magazines for a dime.
Between 5 cents and 20 cents have been shaved off the base price of a catalog normally sent by Standard A, or advertising, mail. The savings depend on the machinability of the host mailing and the mailer’s level of sortation during the experiment.
The ride-along catalogs are not permitted to change the shape or processing category of the host periodical.
The authorization for the experiment came after the Postal Rate Commission recommended the approval of the experiment unanimously endorsed by the catalog and magazine industries. The two industries are anticipating postal rate hikes of as much as 18% when the proposed increase takes effect Jan. 1.
The experiment is expected to net the USPS $4.8 million in new revenue based on a projected gross of $10.2 million.
Among the companies and industry associations to support the experiment were The Association for Postal Commerce (formerly known as the Advertising Mail Marketing Association), along with the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers, American Business Press, Association of American Publishers, Classroom Publishers Association, Cox Consumer Sampling, Cox Target Media Inc., the Magazine Publishers Association, McGraw-Hill Cos., the National Newspaper Association and Time Warner Inc.
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