The USPS Delivers

CAN YOU TAKE IT?

Direct mailers, already giddy from the timing and size of the rate hike, got another piece of good news from the U.S. Postal Service in August.

In a move that will lead to lower mailing costs for catalogers in particular, the USPS said it’s about to increase the allowable size of automatable flats.

The reason for this largesse? The near-complete deployment of 340 new machines and the retrofitting of existing ones.

On Oct. 4, the maximum allowable size of barcoded Standard A flats will go up-by three-quarters of an inch-to 12 inches by 15-3/4 inches, with a minimum size of 4 inches by 4 inches. The maximum allowable weight, 16 ounces, will remain the same.

Announcing the change in the Aug. 26 issue of the Federal Register, the USPS said heavier magazines, newspapers, tabloids and many kinds of polywrapped materials processed by the new machines will qualify for automation discounts under both the existing rate schedule and the new one scheduled to take effect Jan. 10. (That’s when most postage rates will go up an average of 3%.)

The USPS also said it will increase the maximum weight for first class mail pieces processed by the new machines to 11 ounces on Oct. 4 and to 13 ounces on Jan. 10.

“This change clearly shows that postal automation is moving in the right direction,” says Direct Marketing Association senior vice president for government affairs Jerry Cerasale. It will, he adds, “provide more creative opportunities for mailers” while helping both mailers and the USPS to reduce their respective costs.

Seconding that view is Advertising Mail Marketing Association president Gene A. Del Polito. “It will make it easier for flat-size mailers to qualify for rates that are more cost-efficient and provide the USPS with mail that’s better addressed and less costly to handle,” he says.

Isn’t there any downside?

Yes, according to Del Polito. It’s the postal service’s failure to liberalize requirements that call for the use of expensive polywrap materials. Postal officials stuck with the old standards “because of concerns about polywrapped materials being processed by both the new and older flat-sorting machines,” Del Polito says.

Meredith Corp. distribution director Richard Funck argues that postal officials feared an explosion of volume if they loosened the polywrap rules.

The USPS acknowledged in the Federal Register that a sudden influx of such mailings could lead to “equipment capacity problems.”