Friday, November 14, 2008

Any similarities here?

The USPS announced today a loss of over 2.8 billion dollars. Among the reasons mentioned was loss of mail volume. Is it any surprise that when the USPS levied not one, but two hefty increases on first class and bulk mailers over the past 18 months and imposed new regulations for mailers to comply with, that mailers would cut back and/or look for alternative means of delivery... or stop mailing entirely? Hello?

When you increase costs to businesses, they cut back. Layoffs, reduced production or pass along price increases to consumers ensue. Worst case, shuttering entirely.

Raising expenses on businesses will not increase profits anywhere. The USPS must examine its business model and begin to revamp all with an eye towards reclaiming the loss of volume from DM. Renegotiate all their programs with an eye towards bringing mailers back with more cost effective mailing processes and lower postal rates.

Lower your expenses, lower your rates, increase your volume, increase your profits.

Labels: postage

posted by martin stein at 4:20 AM   0 comments

Thursday, September 25, 2008

9 billion fewer pieces of mail

Postmaster General John Potter seems surprised at the fact that the Post Office will see this type of short fall. What did he expect? Raise postal rates on first class and 3rd class bulk and you expect a business increase? Let's go through this; more and more individuals are paying bills online. More and more people are using electronic methods to communicate as opposed to posting letters. But I believe this is a small portion of the 9 billion shortfall. The biggest cut comes from the Post Office's best customer, direct mail. We all know what happened there.

Labels: postage

posted by martin stein at 3:38 AM   0 comments