Calendars may now be mailed at lower rates. That’s because the U.S. Postal Service has clarified a March ruling that would have required calendars to have a substantial amount of accompanying editorial matter to be mailed at first class rates instead of Standard B bound printed matter rates.
Now, calendars containing at least 50% editorial matter, pictures and/or text–and appointment books with less than 30% art photos and text–can be mailed at the Standard B rates.
“We find the clarification very workable and satisfactory,” said Gene A. Del Polito, president of the Association for Postal Commerce. He is organizing an industry meeting with postal officials that will examine the entire issue of bound-printed mailings and related rates with an eye toward a possible revision of eligibility requirements for the entire category.
The clarification seems “reasonable but it will be would be up to mailers to determine if they are comfortable with it,” said Neal Denton, executive director of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers.
Calendars without a substantial amount of text, which was not defined, were “more akin to stationary or merchandise than catalogs and books” and could only be sent by first class mail, the USPS ruled last March. The same held true for calendars containing blank spaces or pages for notes.
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