Mailing Systems Technology - November/December 2008 - (Page 6) PUBLISHER Editor’s Note BY DAN O’ROURKE Ron Brent Dan O’Rourke, CMM dan.o@rbpub.com EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR Erin Eagan erin.e@rbpub.com Only the Best Will Survive Can things get any crazier on the economic front? Every time I think “this is it, it has to improve from here,” it gets worse — much worse. Mailers, like most everyone, are having a tough time, and it’s not likely to improve in the near term. We’re in for a rough ride. However, we still have our jobs to do (hopefully) and we’re going to have to really be on top of our industry to compete. Only the best are going to survive. Your survival will require you to stay informed. There are a lot of mailing industry developments coming very quickly — not only from the U.S. Postal Service, but from competing forms of communication and from industry detractors. With the election over and new legislators in place at both the national and local levels, “do not mail” is sure to raise its ugly head very soon. As an industry, we must be prepared to educate the American public and business on the fallacies of do not mail and the value of hardcopy communication. Hardcopy mail does not have to be intrusive or environmentally negative. Keeping our “address quality” house in order is going to be essential. We must clean up our addressing act — no more “send it and hope they’re still there” — we must be address accurate. Additionally, businesses must be sure that hardcopy material sent to recipients is apropos to that recipient. The mass distribution of hardcopy material must end. In addition to being expensive and wasteful, mass distribution is intrusive and we know what intrusive got the telecommunication industry! Electronic communication can be a very compelling form of economic competition to hardcopy mail — especially when times are tough (and these times are going to be very tough). You must learn to use both electronic and hardcopy forms of communication, jointly, to their maximum potential. Hardcopy and electronic communication complement one another very nicely. Both transpromo and hybrid (contact through hardcopy, follow up electronically) are very effective forms of marketing — learn them well. And, of course, there are ever-changing U.S Postal Service rules and initiatives. We’re about to implement the new Move Update standards (Effective November 23, 2008) — the USPS is serious about address quality (a real good thing). New Flats Sequencing standards go into effect in March 2009, (http://ribbs.usps.gov) — these will require some flats mailers to make significant changes to the design of the address portion of flats. And, the biggie of USPS initiatives — IMB. Effective IMB implementation will require an organization-wide effort and substantial planning. If you haven’t already notified and briefed top management, you better get moving. The bottom line: All of the above will require due diligence if you are to survive in this economy. Do your homework. Stick with us for the latest. (We have some exciting format changes for 2009 — you’re going to like this!) Hopefully, this time next year, we’ll have a bit rosier outlook. As always, thanks for reading Mailing Systems Technology. John L. Campo, Mark Fallon, Jason Lund, Kate Muth, Christopher O’Brien, Pual robbertz, Carrie Scherpelz, Harry Stephens, Marll Thiede, Steve Watters, Bob Wilson Rachel Spahr rachel@rbpub.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS CIRCULATION ADVERTISING 608-241-8777 Ken Waddell ken.w@rbpub.com GRAPHIC DESIGN Tiffany Falkner, Greg Middleton, Kelli Cooke 2901 International Lane Madison WI 53704-3128 608-241-8777 • Fax 608-241-8666 rbpub@rbpub.com www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com Volume 21, Issue 6 Subscriptions are free to qualified recipients: $20 per year to all others in the United States. Subscription rate for Canada or Mexico is $40 per year, and for elsewhere outside of the United States is $45. Back issue rate is $5. Send subscriptions to: Mailing Systems Technology, PO Box 259098, Madison WI 53725-9098; or call 608-241-8777; fax 608-241-8666; e-mail rbpub@rbpub.com or subscribe online at www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com. For quality, customized reprints, please contact our exclusive reprint provider. 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Mailing Systems Technology (ISSN 1088-2677) [Volume 21, Issue 6w] is published seven times per year ( January [including the Annual Resource Guide], February, March-April, May-June, July-August, September-October, November-December) by RB Publishing Inc., 2901 International Lane, Suite 200, Madison WI 53704-3128, 608-241-8777. Periodicals postage paid at Madison WI and additional offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to: Mailing Systems Technology PO Box 259098 Madison WI 53725-9098 6 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2008 | WWW.MAILINGSYSTEMSTECHNOLOGY.COM http://www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com http://www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com http://ribbs.usps.gov http://www.marketingreprints.com http://www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com
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