Envelope Vendors Seek Piece of Postal ‘Summer Sale’ Pie

Mailers looking to take advantage of the USPS’ Standard Mail Volume Incentive Program, also known as the “summer sale,” may need to add to their volumes to qualify for the postage discounts. And with 30 percent postage rebates available to qualified mailers on incremental mail volume from July 1 to Sept. 30 of this year, some may consider cranking out postcards or letters to draw traffic to their Web sites.

Envelope suppliers Western States Envelope & Label and Worcester Envelope have been aggressively peddling their services not just to help mailers reach volume minimums to qualify for summer sale discounts. “The stimulation of letters by the USPS summer sale has a sustainability advantage,” said Brook Spaulding, principal and chief technology officer of 7R Communications in a statement. 7R licenses a suite of USPS-approved mail pieces designed to boost sales while reducing carbon footprint.

So far, some 3,200 Standard mail permit holders have qualified for the summer sale by having mailed at least 1 million Standard mail pieces between Oct. 1, 2007 and March 31, 2008.