In my role as the Manager of Logistics and Postal Affairs here at Nahan, I get a front row seat to the going pricing trends and how they continue to affect Nahan’s clients.
In recent years, we’ve all felt the squeeze of rising postal prices. The United States Postal Service (USPS) has been quite forthcoming about utilizing its full rate authority for each rate increase. This scenario necessitates a proactive approach to direct mail planning to harness available USPS promotions and discounts effectively.
In this article, I’ll share my top three recommendations to help direct mailers not just survive but thrive in this evolving postal landscape. From leveraging USPS promotions to optimizing your mail design and integrating advanced logistics solutions, I’ll provide insights that can lead to significant savings and greater campaign success.
Let’s dive into how you can turn these postal challenges into opportunities.
When working with our diverse set of clients, I constantly emphasize the importance of leveraging USPS promotions to mitigate the rising costs of postal rates. For 2024, there are several key promotions that can significantly reduce your mailing expenses if utilized correctly.
Here’s how you can take full advantage of these opportunities:
Qualifying for the 30% Volume Discount
The USPS offers a substantial 30% discount for mailers who exceed their previous year’s mailing volumes or send over 1 million pieces in 2024. To qualify for this discount, it’s essential to understand and meet these volume thresholds. For detailed guidance on this process, please refer to our “Mail Smarter” guide where we dive deeper into how you can meet these criteria.
Registering and Maximizing the Rebate Schedule
Registering for USPS promotions can seem daunting, but with the right approach, it can be streamlined and highly beneficial. The key is to start early and allow experts like us at Nahan to guide you through the process.
By reaching out to us from the onset, you can ensure that all steps from registration to taking full advantage of the rebate schedule are handled efficiently and correctly.
Utilizing Specific Promotions
For 2024, the USPS has highlighted several promotions such as Tactile Sensory and Interactive (TSI), Informed Delivery, and Emerging and Advanced Technology (EAT). Many mailers might not realize the range of materials that qualify for TSI — even the paper type used in printing could make your mail eligible.
Always consult with us at Nahan to assess your mail’s eligibility for these promotions. In cases where TSI or Informed Delivery might not apply, a mail piece can usually be easily brought into compliance with the Emerging and Advanced Technology promotion with only minor changes to your piece’s creative. The EAT promotion provides a slightly lower discount but offers flexibility as it can be applied to any six-month period chosen by the mail owner.
Common Pitfalls in Applying for USPS Promotions
One of the most recurrent issues we’ve observed is when customers attempt to set up their own USPS promotional campaigns without expert guidance, leading to complications and missed benefits.
My strong advice is to let us at Nahan act as your subject matter experts. This approach ensures that all aspects of the USPS promotion application are managed correctly, avoiding common pitfalls and maximizing your promotional benefits.
Planning Your Campaigns with USPS Promotions in Mind
Ideally, integrating USPS promotions into your direct mail strategy should begin as soon as a job is booked, with USPS approval secured before the data sorting stage. However, we understand that plans can evolve, and are always ready to help our customers find the best solutions.
Optimizing mail designs for cost-effectiveness remains a fundamental strategy for our clients. We focus on crafting mail pieces that are not only impactful in their messaging but also structured to maximize postal discounts with minimal adjustments.
Here’s how we approach the optimization of mail designs:
Design Adjustments for USPS Discounts
While we covered USPS promotions extensively in the previous section, it’s important to touch on specific design adjustments that can help qualify for these discounts with minimal changes. For example, incorporating a QR code or adding interactive elements like “Hey Alexa” prompts can qualify a mail piece for the Emerging and Advanced Technology promotion. These small tweaks are simple yet effective ways to enhance engagement while taking advantage of postal savings.
Design Trend: The Rise of Mini-catalogs
One important design trend for retail marketers has been the conversion of traditional catalogs into mini-catalogs. This change allows mailers to benefit from lower postage rates by shifting from flat rates to the more economical letter rates. Though it’s becoming a common practice, the savings potential makes it a noteworthy strategy for any catalog campaign.
Collaborative Design Optimization at Nahan
Ensuring that mail designs meet both marketing and postal requirements is a collaborative effort at Nahan. Both our Postal Team and our Technical Service Representatives (TSRs) routinely check pieces as part of their standard process, providing an additional layer of assurance that every mail piece aligns with both postal guidelines and client marketing objectives.
At Nahan, we understand that effective direct mail campaigns require a balance between creative marketing and stringent compliance with postal regulations.
Our dual-focus approach ensures that your campaigns not only resonate with your audience but also capitalize on cost-saving opportunities offered through smart design practices.
Effective logistics planning is crucial in direct mail campaigns, especially as postal rates and operational costs continue to rise. At Nahan, we employ sophisticated logistics solutions to ensure cost-efficient distribution and transportation that align with the specific needs of each campaign.
Here’s a closer look at how we optimize logistics for direct mail:
Advanced Distribution Methods
In our logistics strategy, we incorporate freight consolidation, CoMailing, and Comingling. These methods significantly reduce mailing costs by inducting deeper in the postal stream and improving mailing sortation.
By consolidating shipments, we leverage USPS drop ship discounts while reducing the cost of transportation carried by any one client. This also reduces the number of touches a mail piece requires, thus minimizing handling and the potential for delays.
Commingling and comailing serve to enhance the data sort for many clients across a combined pool, thus improving qualification levels and lowering postage for all.
Ensuring On-Time Delivery
Ensuring on-time delivery is always a top priority. We work with multiple logistics partners to create a robust network that supports our distribution strategies. By having redundancies in place, we can swiftly react to and recover from any emergencies that may arise. This proactive approach minimizes disruptions and ensures that your direct mail campaigns are delivered on schedule.
Conclusion
The rising cost of postage is top of mind for all mailers this year, especially with the latest increase just around the corner in July. I believe the strategies outlined in this article can help marketers not only navigate the current rise in postage but continue to thrive in the direct mail channel. We’re here to help.