Monday, December 20, 2010

Can the Postal Service Do Direct Mail for Itself?

In order to promote its buy stamps by mail program, the Postal Service sent out a direct mail piece promoting its holiday stamps.   Only problem with the mailing is that it arrived too late for customers to order by mail or internet and receive the holiday stamps before the deadline for mailing Christmas cards passed.

While buying stamps by mail may be a great program, this mailing was a waste of money in the same way that advertising that arrives after a sale (or an election)  is a waste.  When this happens to an advertising mailer every vendor from the advertising agency to the printer to the Postal Service is challenged to find out why the mailing did not arrive in time to have the appropriate impact.  If there is evidence that the Postal Service did not meet its obligation, especially in the case of political mail, there are usually news stories that get picked up by many national media outlets.  

The marketing office that paid for the mailing should find out where the failure in the mailing process occurred.    Finding out why the mailing arrived late, and how Postal Service operations may have caused the late delivery, might help Postal management understand how service needs to improve to ensure that advertising mail remains a competitive mode for delivering advertising.

5 comments:

dryMAILman said...

There are too many postal blogs focusing on minor issues like this. We all need to focus on James C. Miller III's wish to make the Reagan centennial stamp a forever stamp.

Dwysong said...

My customers who have had this happen to their mail, some took 3 weeks in just our local area, will get a chuckle.

They also tried to search out the reason and it as all a postal issue.

Performance is something required of only private enterprises. I am sure the USPS will seek out the non-performer and make them pay.

$ 27,000 in postage just doesn't buy much these days. Welcome to the new normal USPS.

Colorado USPS said...

That's nothing. In my city, we often deliver advertising mail long past the requested date of the mailer. Sometimes we can't even get all of the first class mail delivered, so the bulk mail keeps getting set aside, where it piles up. Welcome to the new,leaner USPS: doing less with less.

Anonymous said...

What was really sorry about this mailing is that it was not DPS compatible. It came to the routes as random mail, no where near delivery sequence, just like every full coverage mailing the USPS has sent out recently.

Anonymous said...

the usps sends otu mail that does not run good on thier machines.the mail gets destroyed or sent to flat sorter or done manually.strange group of people these usps mailers.