Summer Sale Returns

The Federal Register final rule on the upcoming 2010 Standard Mail Incentive Program (aka 2010 Summer Sale) was issued on April 21st.

The Sale will provide a 30 percent credit on postage paid by Standard Mail customers mailing an increased volume of letters and flats above a predetermined threshold. The program period will run from July 1 through September 30, 2010.

Invitation letters will automatically be sent to eligible customers by May 1, 2010. Mailers who want to participate in the program and believe that they meet the minimum eligibility criteria, of mailing 350,000 Standard Mail letters or flats within the program qualification period, may request a review of their eligibility by contacting This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it no later than May 15, 2010.

The 2010 Standard Mail Incentive Program was reviewed and approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission on April 7, 2010. Source: DMM Advisory

Big Changes on Horizon for Periodicals

At this year’s National Postal Forum held in Nashville, the Postal Service announced there could be some huge changes in store for Periodicals publications. As the struggling publishing community deals with a severe downturn in advertising, a small group of publishers and mailer service providers (including Brown Printing) have been working with the Postal Service on some “out of the box” thinking.

The Periodicals Advisory Group (PAG) encouraged the Postal Service to look into more creative ways for publishers to attract advertisers. The change, if approved, will allow publishers the opportunity to insert loose advertising supplements within a polybag and count them towards the ad content of their magazines. Details of the regulation are still being worked out with a possible implementation date this fall. We will release any new information as it becomes available.

Flat Sequencing System News

An analysis by Dan Harding, Vice President of MeritDirect posted to the American Catalog Mailers Association (ACMA) website reports the USPS is assuring mailers that the future postage rates in Flats Sequencing System (FSS) areas will be near the current Carrier Route rate. This latest commitment was made by Deputy Postmaster General Pat Donahoe during a session at ACMA’s National Catalog Forum, held April 13-15 in Nashville, TN. The first time the relationship between FSS rates and CR mailing rates was addressed was by the Postmaster General when Postmaster General Jack Potter essentially said the same thing during the Flats Symposium in May 2008.

Previously, some felt that the new FSS rate would be a blended average of the Carrier Route, 5-digit and 3-digit presort rates. Mr. Harding states this works well for catalog mailings with more than 50% Carrier Route, but is totally unworkable if Carrier Route represents less than 50% of the volume. Compared to the averaging approach, if the rates are set the way the Deputy PMG said, the impact on catalog mail will be tremendous, as the difference is about 4 cents per piece or $40 per 1,000 pieces. Source: ACMA

Circulation Stimulation

Even in the Age of Google, there’s a positive story to tell about magazine circulation. According to the Magazine Publishers Association (MPA), total circulation in a poor economy held its own in 2009, with only a 1 percent decline in newsstand and subscription sales. Although newsstand sales have dropped, subscription sales have increased, almost making up the deficiency and creating more volume for USPS. MPA also reports the Internet is having a positive impact on subscriptions. More than one in five subscriptions will be sold online in 2009 — up almost 70 percent from three years ago — while subscriptions purchased on Amazon will increase almost 35 percent this year. Source: USPS News Link