POSTAL: USPS’ Calendar Mail Rule Draws Ire

The U.S. Postal Service is under fire by DM trade groups for ruling that most promotional calendars – those without extensive editorial copy – must be mailed at first class rates instead of those for Standard B bound printed matter. Gene Del Polito, president of the Association for Postal Commerce, said the ruling was “inexplicable” since the USPS historically has treated calendars as bound printed matter. Neal Denton, executive director of the Alliance for Nonprofit Mailers, wondered if this will be “another episode where customers of the USPS will have to find different ways to get their products in the hands of their customers.” As a result of the ruling, organizations that send calendars as premiums – including nonprofit groups like the National Wildlife Federation and the Sierra Club – would have to spend thousands of dollars more to mail them, Del Polito and Denton predicted. Sherry Suggs, rates and classification subclass manager for the USPS, ruled that “a calendar tha! t does not contain a substantial amount of text is more akin to stationery or merchandise than catalogs and books.” She added that it’s reasonable to extend the prohibition to “other types of calendars, particularly those containing blank spaces for note taking.” From now on the USPS will decide which calendar mailing qualifies for Standard B bound printed rates on a case-by-case basis, according to Suggs. Del Polito said late last year that he asked for a clarification of the issue after postal officials for the first time rejected a Standard B bound printed matter calendar mailing by one of his group’s members.