Direct Marketing

The fact that the U.S. Postal Service has to prepay retiree health benefits to the tune of about $5.5 billion per year has received a lot of ink since it was ordained by the 2006 Postal Reform legislation.

Today, Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe testified before a Senate subcommittee that despite significant cost cutting and revenue generation, the USPS won’t be able to make good on its $5.5 billion in healthcare retiree payment at the end of September unless Congress intercedes and refunds overpayments of pension funding or in some way eases the mandate to prefund retiree health benefits. more

There’s a privacy bill zooming around the California state legislature (SB 761) ostensibly designed to restrict Web site operators from making malicious changes to site visitors’ computer settings. The bill further prohibits site operators from collecting, storing and transferring information gathered surreptitiously online, such as through cookies, and requires opt-out mechanisms.

Got no problem with the first part, although it’s probably more toothless and feel-good than practical: Offshore miscreants aren’t going to give a damn about the state of California shaking its finger at them, and legitimate businesses walk the line when it comes to installing malwear or preventing software from being uninstalled.

But there are a few casual sentences and phrases in the bill which, due to their vagueness, could potentially be killers of the marketing data industry. more

Once again, the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service is apparently beset by problems beyond its control.

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A more accurate headline might be “Direct Mail My Kids Love.” When the Lego Club Magazine arrives, my boys get as excited as Navin R. Johnson when the new phone book arrives.

The magazine is an impressive hybrid of advertising and relationship building. Every page promotes a specific Lego building set or line, with mentions of exclusive retailers like Target and links to more information online.

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Does the name Elmer Lynn Hauldren ring a bell?

If not, it’s because he didn’t sell bells, but carpeting. Lots of it. He was best known as the Empire Carpet Man, and he passed away at the age of 89 on April 27th, 2011.

If you grew up in the Midwest, this guy was a legend. Take a peek at one of his commercials here.

Unlike so many pitchmen, this guy was the grandfatherly type, who oozed honesty. R.I.P.

Anyone who reads Multichannel Merchant on a regular basis knows about the potential massive postal rate increase coming in the next year or two for catalogers. Some industry experts believe the U.S. Postal Service will phase the increase in over a span of a few years, rather than throw a 22% rate hike at catalogers in, say, 2012.

But nobody knows for sure.

The Postal Regulatory Commission’s Annual Compliance Determination for fiscal 2010 found that rates for Standard Mail flats are not in compliance with the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act when it comes to “a fair and equitable apportionment of the cost of postal operations.”

The attributable cost of Standard Mail flats in fiscal 2010 exceeded revenue by $577 million, resulting in a cost coverage of 82% with a loss of 8.2 cents per piece. The ACD directs the USPS to devise a plan to improve the cost coverage of Standard Mail flats.

The PRC wants the USPS to fix the problem swiftly, which could lead to a devastating rate increase of 22.3% to bring flats to full cost coverage.

I think one of the big questions lies in what can the industry do as a group to fight this potential rate hike. Hamilton Davison, president and executive director of the American Catalog Mailers Association, says that the letter mailers are being aggressive attacking catalogs. “They also have a lot of credibility with the PRC.” And the PRC prefers to base its decision on the written record submitted to it, “and that record is not flattering for catalogs.” more