Happy New Year from all of us at ProList!

Postal Service Settles on New Rate Process

Rates could go up on 45 days notice...

As one of the results of Postal Reform, the Postal Service will be using a new method of "adjusting" postage rates.  In the past they needed to bounce rate proposals off of the Postal Rate Commission, allow ten months for everyone to sue everyone else, and then implement the rates they pretty much wanted anyway.  Afterward, everyone had a hearty laugh and got back to their real job – rejecting mail.  Under new law this old process will be changed dramatically. 

In the "market dominant products" area, generally First-Class, Standard, Periodicals, and most parcels, they are limited to an increase tied to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index within each class.  This does not mean that your rates are not going to rise. Flat size mail will probably continue to increase at a much greater rate, offset by less aggressive increases in letter size mail within the same class.  Don't let averages fool you.

Under this new process, the Postal Service doesn't technically need permission to "adjust" rates, but the PRC (Postal Regulatory Commission) will require at least 45 days notice to make sure the applicable laws are being obeyed.  For their part, the Postal Service has promised to give at least 90 days notice.  Any new rate case can still have it's own set of complicated regulations.  

Regardless of when notice is given, a rate increase averaging around the CPI can be expected before mid-2008.  After that, you may see annual increases.  Expect certain types of mail, such as flats and small parcels to go up disproportionately.  Address quality will become an ever bigger issue to secure to lowest rates.  Have a strategy now for optimizing your address lists.

If you are thinking of making changes to any of your mailing pieces or other changes to your direct mail be sure to contact us here at ProList.  We can help you make the decisions that will make the best use of your mailing resources.

Addressing Bad Addresses

ProList Offers Some Address Strategery

With the Postal Service's heightened emphasis on address quality, ProList is happy to offer some simple tools for improving your addresses. 

NCOALink every 90 days.  NCOA is the National Change Of Address file to which all well behaved good citizens send their new address when they move.  For a modest fee we can bump your mailing lists up against this file to identify those who have moved, so you can update their addresses, or delete them when there is no forwarding address provided.  This process will eliminate your mailing to the old addresses of prospects and improve your response rates by definition.  The Postal Service also recognizes this as an acceptable process to qualify for discounted rates on your mail.  Effective in November 2008 you have to have your addresses updated within 95 days, as opposed to the prior rule of 185 days.  It's easy, quick, and inexpensive.  Ask your customer service rep to NCOA your file next mailing.

OneCode ACS.  Even after you have updated your files with NCOALink there will still be undeliverable addresses in your files caused by more recent moves, and less well behaved citizens who have neglected to tell USPS that they have moved.  Their carrier knows...the carrier always knows.  And he or she will dutifully report this move, cleverly known as a "carrier reported move."  You may not catch these moves in NCOA, but OneCode ACS will.  You may not know the new address, but at least you'll know not to mail to the same address next time.

Which should you use?  Both.  While either process will meet USPS move update requirements independently the best idea is to use both.  NCOALink is a pre-mailing process that will reduce your wasted mail before production.  OneCode ACS will catch any that were missed, and you only pay for "hits".  If your list is 100% deliverable it will cost nothing.  Most importantly, you need to take the data provided from both services and use it to remove undeliverable addresses from your mailing lists.

If you have a house file to which you mail regularly, we suggest NCOALink once a quarter and OneCode ACS on every mailing.  If you regularly mail using OneCode ACS you may be able to skip the NCOALink process.  We'd be happy to discuss you particular mailing list needs with you.  Just give us a call!