Mailing Systems Technology - May/June 2008 - (Page 54)

Kate’s Slate BY KATE MUTH Comments on Industry Happenings The various segments that make up the mailing industry sometimes find themselves at odds with each other. In the old days, First-Class Mailers would wrangle with Standard Mail users over cost coverage issues in rate cases. In the final omnibus rate case under the old law, we saw a little of that in-fighting between letter mailers and flat mailers. The industry sometimes finds itself at odds with the unions on certain issues that come before Congress. And at one time or another, we’ve all found ourselves on opposite sides of the fence with the Postal Service. One thing we all agree on, however, is that we want and need this nation’s postal system to thrive. I submit it’s not an easy proposition. Mail volume has been flat or in decline for the past few years. The industry faces threats from a number of sides: electronic diversion, Do Not Mail legislation, a weak economy, other advertising outlets and the potential for the USPS to set restrictive regulations around automation mail. Further, we do not see many bold, new marketing ideas from the Postal Service for commercial mailers of market-dominant products. I look at the previous paragraph and I see I have listed a bunch of hurdles we face as an industry. I haven’t provided a lot in the way of solutions. It reminds me of the Pete Seeger folk song, “The Talking Union.” Seeger said that once the song was written, he’d realized that all he’d done was add up all the problems. The solution, he said, is “we’ve got to stick together.” Our mailing industry faces numerous challenges. It seems to me that the advice of an iconic folk singer might be pretty good: let’s stick together. If we as an industry take on Do Not Mail together, we have a good chance of prevailing. As I wrote in a previous column, when we harness the power of this $900 billion Visit us for the latest news in mailing www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com 54 MAY-JUNE 2008 | WWW.MAILINGSYSTEMSTECHNOLOGY.COM http://www.innovativesystems.com/docs/data_sheets.php http://www.innovativesystems.com http://www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com http://www.mailingsystemstechnology.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Mailing Systems Technology - May/June 2008

Mailing Systems Technology - May/June 2008 Contents Editor’s Note Peer to Peer It’s an Inside Job Greening Your Mail Center Adopting an Automated Document Factory Intelligent Mail and Address Quality 7 Steps to Combat “Do Not Mail” A Successful Resolution Q&A with Dan G. Blair, Chairman, Postal Regulatory Commission The Intelligent Mail Barcode Developing High-Performance Teams Simple Strategies to Save You Money A Powerful Social Network With Change, Comes Opportunity Increasing the Deliverability of Mail Kate’s Slate Products & Services People of Distinction Advertiser Index Sho Time

Mailing Systems Technology - May/June 2008

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