Letters to the Editor
(Re: “UPS Launches Offers-And-Sampling Program” http://directmag.com/mail/news/ups-offer-sample-0929/index.html, Direct Newsline, Sept. 28, 2009):
We are writing this letter to express our opinion about UPS’ test of the Offer Sample program it is conducting with 12 beta partners.
There have been many comments about the program praising UPS’ ingenuity, “it was bound to happen” or “why didn’t I think of that”? There is nothing new about this program. Companies buy into coupon PAKs that are traditionally delivered via USPS to household prospects.
UPS is offering a program that bypasses traditional coupon pak prospecting with a methodology that appears improper and unethical by going straight to an active buyer without permission from the owner of that address (the shipper) and ultimately the consumer. In short, is this a new form of spam and who will the customer call to complain? NOT UPS!
Each and every etailer, cataloger, DMer and list provider works very hard to obtain, retain and incentivize their current customer base to place new or re-orders in house. If we want to prospect, we would utilize list brokers who, work with other DMers, catalogs, etailers who make revenue from providing those lists.
This is all part of the DM collective. The attempt to help grow Direct Marketing by offering lists, names, addresses that were ethically/legally obtained through proper channels. Most of us who rent these lists know that a direct competitor will more than likely not allow the broker to rent that list. No surprise.
What UPS and these 12 Partners are doing cuts against the grain. In addition to UPS delivering the package to an address that we paid them to do, they’re also delivering a promotional pack with offers to “hotline buyers”. “Hotline buyers” being the most attractive consumer there is in DM. Of course this is an attractive program to these 12 partners.
We want to be real clear on this next statement. UPS is delivering a package to an address, that we provided from an active buyer, that we are paying UPS to deliver. UPS is not going to that address on a daily basis.
We own that relationship with that addressee, UPS does not have our authority to offer a marketing piece from a potential competitor to OUR customer. They, UPS and these 12 Partners, did not seek our permission to do this as would be the case as described above.
Within most of our package are in-box promotions that we generate organically or make revenue as inserts from other companies, promoting non-competitive products or services. The difference is we have the choice who to partner with. UPS is not providing that choice with this program.
We also make revenue from those partnerships…the only groups benefiting from this program is UPS and these 12 partners. This program will dilute all of our organic marketing campaigns, removing revenue and profit that should be ours and yours.
Our recommendation is to contact your local UPS reps to express your displeasure and to contact UPS corporate directly. During this Beta week, we have chosen to redirect our shipments via a different carrier. We are not the largest shipper so it won’t be too much of a blip on UPS’ radar, but we are one of the thousands of middle market UPS customer that comprises the majority of revenue for the company. Are all 12 of these Partners our competitor? No. Irregardless, it doesn’t give them the right to market to my customer via this UPS program. UPS does not have our authority to do so.
For those of you who print a catalog, it would be the same as your print house placing a blow-in without your knowledge or permission. Would you tolerate it? Probably not. So why would anyone tolerate this program?
Steve Kalsch, Member
Dustin Wilson, Member
Bill Cartwright, Member
XP Innovation, LLC
