Not long ago, many in our industry were weeping and gnashing their teeth over postal rate increases that soared well beyond the rate of inflation.
Hikes of 30% to 40%, they said, not only were bone-crushing but business-busting. Something, they pleaded, had to be done to end this sort of postal rate burden or direct mail marketing would suffer an untimely end.
The cry for help did not go unheard.
AMMA’s Efforts In fact, the Advertising Mail Marketing Association (which was known then as the Third Class Mail Association) began a vigorous public educational campaign to reverse the ill fortune plaguing the direct mail industry.
* In 1988 AMMA recommended a suspension of the monopoly over third class mail.
* In 1989 the organization issued the first call for comprehensive mail classification reform to rationalize a postal rate structure that no longer corresponded with how mail was handled or how it was used in the marketplace.
* In 1992 AMMA was first to suggest comprehensive reform of the legislative and regulatory structure of the nation’s postal system.
These were not just idle efforts.
USPS Concurs In 1985 the U.S. Postal Service requested and received mail classification reform. In 1994 Postmaster General Marvin Runyon echoed AMMA’s call for legislative reform, and the nation began taking steps toward it.
The imminence of classification reform enabled mailers to win a modest across-the-board increase in rates that year, and to hold off a subsequent round of hikes until 1998.
Classification reform itself brought mailers a more rationalized rate structure and created greater opportunities for work-sharing discounts. The revisions also provided the postal service with mail that was more efficiently prepared and less costly to handle. These efficiencies were reflected not only in the postal rates that came out of classification reform, but also in those that ultimately were requested in the 1997 rate case.
Reasonable Rate Increases The prospect of legislative reform heightened postal management’s and the Board of Governors’ appreciation of smaller, inflation-bounded rate hikes rather than large business-busters. Reform’s positioning on the legislative horizon also heightened a desire at the Postal Rate Commission and the USPS to work cooperatively to better serve the legitimate needs of postal customers.
The result of this awareness was reflected in the rate increases that were implemented earlier this year-the lowest ever-and the six-month delay in those rates being approved by the postal governors.
Down the Road As we look to the future, it’s important for everyone in our industry to keep in mind that good things don’t “just happen.” They are made to happen through lots of hard work that requires the industry’s interest and support.
And oh yes, a “thank you” once in a while sure wouldn’t hurt.
THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE has cut some of the rates for International Priority Airmail. Volume mailers using IPA will see a reduction in the per-pound rate for drop-shipped, sacked mail sorted by country (except Canada). There’s no change in the per-piece charge.
Mailers also will be able to increase the weight of their sacked mail, including letters, postcards, small packets and periodicals-such as catalogs and magazines-to 11 pounds from 10 pounds. A mailer sending such mail to Asia, for example, will save $2 a pound, paying $6.50 instead of $8.50 per pound and 10 cents for each piece in the sack.
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