The postal rate increase coming this spring is not expected to have a significant effect on direct mail marketing plans this year, thanks to its size and timing.
However, the fact that the increase is even smaller than the US Postal Service had initially proposed is not much comfort to marketers, say industry observers. As with any cost increase, they point out higher postal rates continue to erode marketers’ use of direct mail.
“Any cost increase to the mailer is a factor,” says Stephen Lett, president of Lett Direct, a consulting company. “I don’t care how small it is; it’s not good.”
Robert Nachman, VP of design and marketing at Steuben Glass, notes that the glassmaker’s first-quarter mailings are already planned and priced. He also says that he doesn’t plan to make any changes to the April catalog he is working on due to the rate increase.
“It wasn’t as drastic as it could have been, so it’s not going to have as large an effect. But certainly, budgets are budgets,” Nachman says. “We’re pretty much staying the way we’d planned, but we will certainly take a look at it and maybe make a few tweaks.”
Most marketers had already set their budgets when the US Postal Service filed its plans to increase rates January 13, because the Postal Regulatory Commission denied a much larger rate increase last September.
Continues at: Planned postal rate hike hits marketers, but many remain loyal to mail medium – Direct Marketing News.
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