Excerpted from the February 18, 2019 edition of the Mailers Hub News.

As was observed late last year when the Postal Service reported its volume and revenue figures for October, the first month of fiscal 2019 and the month that benefitted from pre-election mailing activity, it needs more months like that. That assessment was reinforced earlier this month when the less impressive results for the other two months of the first quarter were added and reported on the agency’s PQ I/FY 2019 Form 10-Q.

Growing your print and mail business by getting in front of your customers means putting them first and making the relationship you have with them an all-day every-day proposition. This probably makes sense to you. But just because it makes sense doesn’t mean it’s easy to actually do.

Courtesy of Mailers Hub subscriber and Eye/Comm President, Summer Gould

Direct mail is a very powerful marketing channel. Now you can enhance it more by adding informed delivery. What is informed delivery? The USPS offers a free service to subscribers, that sends an email to them with an image of that day’s mail. The default images are not in color, by participating in an informed delivery campaign, you can replace that image with a color image and even add a web link.

Excerpted from the February 4, 2019 Issue of Mailers Hub News

It’s common knowledge in the postal community that the Postal Service’s fleet of about 140,000 “long-life vehicles” has more than outlived its name. Originally meant to last 24 years (but later extended to 30 years), the ubiquitous LLV is used by city and rural carriers nationwide. Out of production since 1994, the oldest trucks in the fleet are now 31 years old, but the anticipated replacement vehicles, expected to cost about $6 billion in all, have yet to be chosen.

Client Misconceptions about Direct Mail

Your clients may have outdated ideas about the effectiveness and value of mailed communications. Mail may seem old fashioned to them, or too expensive. The future of the US Postal Service may concern clients because of reported financial problems or they may be unclear about how to track and monitor mailed communications.

At your next client meeting, block out some time to talk about the role of mail in modern marketing strategies. Showing clients how direct mail has changed to meet the needs of today’s marketers can spur conversations leading to profitable repetitive work.