The U.S. Postal Service is about to propose a new experimental service that would allow catalogs to ride-along with polybagged magazines at a special reduced-rate, Direct Newsline has learned.
Details about the proposal creating a new Periodicals and Publications sub-class, were not immediately available. They are scheduled to be outlined Monday by postal officials at a closed-door meeting of the postal service’s Board of Governors.
After outlining the proposal, postal officials will ask the board for permission to seek Postal Rate Commission endorsement for the experimental service that they hope to launch next Spring.
Jerry Cerasale, the Direct Marketing Association’s senior vice president for government affairs, said the proposal would “open another targeting avenue for catalogers while holding down their mailing costs because it’s cheaper for the postal service to deliver it as one piece instead of two.”
Neal Denton, Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers executive director, said the idea “makes sense” because the current ride-along system of charging separate rates for magazines and catalogs in a single polybag “just isn’t cost-effective” for both the USPS and mailers.
Postal governors are also slated at that meeting to adopt last week’s PRC recommendation for a flat per-piece fee of $1.75 for each machinable Standard A parcel being returned as either unwanted by the recipient or undeliverable under the postal service’s Bulk Parcel Return Service (BPRS). The service is primarily used by cosmetic, hosiery, book and record club continuity mailers and catalogers.
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