Shipping

Although the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors today approved most of the rates recommended by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) last month, they asked the Commission to re-think the whopping catalog rates the PRC stunned the industry with, accepting them “under protest.” In making the announcement today in a teleconference, James Miller III, the chairman of the postal governors, said the Board asked that the Commission “reconsider certain issues” regarding Standard Mail flats as well as the First Class nonmachinable surcharge rate and the Priority Mail flat-rate box. Miller tempered any possible enthusiasm of a modification of the catalog rates, warning that the Commission could

Plenty of mailers got their letters in to the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors by the March 8 deadline, some protesting the horrific catalog postal rate increases recommended by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). In fact, I checked with the Governors’ office this morning (March 9), and heard that the office received more than 1,000 letters — though not all necessarily concerning the killer catalog rates. That’s a nice big number indeed, but I’m taking a glass half empty approach to this edition of The Corner View. That is, let’s go on the assumption that these unfair rates will be accepted by

Plenty of mailers got their letters in to the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors by the March 8 deadline, some protesting the horrific catalog postal rate increases recommended by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). In fact, I checked with the Governors’ office this morning (March 9), and heard that the office received more than 1,000 letters — though not all necessarily concerning the killer catalog rates. That’s a nice big number indeed, but I’m taking a glass half empty approach to this edition of The Corner View. That is, let’s go on the assumption that these unfair rates will be accepted by

Postal experts at WindowBook, a Cambridge, Mass.,-based postal software solutions provider, urge mailers to start examining mailing systems well before the new rates are implemented in May. In a new report, WindowBook specialists offer these tips on how mailers can get through the postal rate increases by knowing what to look for in their mailing systems. 1. Make sure your software can easily adapt to changes. The WindowBook report says your mailing software should be able to calculate the new rates and produce updated PAVE-approved U.S. Postal Service forms. (PAVE is a voluntary testing program offered by the Postal Service for evaluating presort software

There’s a bit of irony as to how the mood among catalogers, printers, industry groups and the like shifted so radically from the assorted kudos to the PRC last Monday after it released its recommendations to the desperate situation mailers find themselves in right now. Word started spreading late last week during a retirement party for outgoing PRC chairman George Omas. “We all first saw drop-ship discounts increase, which was good,” says Joe Schick, director of postal affairs for printer Quad/Graphics, who was at the reception. “But then it seemed as though every analysis we ran on catalog rates, it got worse and worse. Maybe

Among several catalogers and printers who last week uncovered a sizable difference among rate increases that the U.S. Postal Service had requested in its original R2006 rate case and those that the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) on Feb. 26 recommended, was Don Landis, vice president of postal affairs for printer Arandell Corp. “This increase will have a serious, adverse effect on the catalog industry,” he says, referring to the rates for some catalog categories if implemented per the PRC’s recommendations. “It has the potential of moving catalogers to different media, which is the very thing the USPS didn’t want to happen.” (See the bottom

The Feb. 26 announcement by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) of its postal rate recommendations on the surface looked like good news for mailers. But a closer look at the rates for the various bulk mail subclasses exposes a number of potentially enormous rate hikes for a significant number of catalogers. The PRC recommendation is now in the hands of the U.S. Postal Service’s Board of Governors, who can either accept, reject or accept them under protest. Although the PRC recommended an average rate increase of 9.3 percent for Standard Mail, the bulk mail category that most catalogers and other direct mailers use, a closer

The Feb. 26 announcement by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) of its postal rate recommendations on the surface looked like good news for mailers. But a closer look at the rates for the various bulk mail subclasses exposes a number of potentially enormous rate hikes for a significant number of catalogers. The PRC recommendation is now in the hands of the U.S. Postal Service’s Board of Governors, who can either accept, reject or accept them under protest. Although the PRC recommended an average rate increase of 9.3 percent for Standard Mail, the bulk mail category that most catalogers and other direct mailers use, a closer

One of the reasons any veteran in his or her field is brought in to manage an operation is to inject some fresh ideas, come up with some money-making business initiatives and perhaps even spark a little controversy in the process. As I approach my first anniversary with Catalog Success, I’ve instituted some positive change, some new features and we have some other initiatives that you’ll find out about later in the year. Wait! Don’t go to sleep! I’m not looking to give myself a happy anniversary pat on the back (yawn!). I’m talking about some of the previous initiatives here that I’ve inherited, namely

Like other insert media programs, such as package stuffers and blow-ins, miniature catalogs have been around a long time. But in recent times, their popularity among catalogers appears to be on the rise. Catalogers as diverse in nature as nursing mother products marketer Motherwear International and B-to-B uniforms mailer UniFirst Corp. have been successful marketing through mini-format catalogs. What’s more, multi-title apparel and food cataloger Crosstown Traders plans to test its first miniature later this year. Defined primarily as having no more than 24 pages at various dimensions, miniatures can be a more efficient way to get your product offerings in front of