New Postal Regulations Mean Big Changes
Huge changes are sweeping the Post Office. They started in May and go through 2009. It is the biggest change at the Post Office in 10 years and will have a tremendous effect on many groups and businesses. And it is not about the postage increase!
Starting May 2008, there will be new price increases -- though not as drastic as the year before.
In November, the Post Office will require National Change of Address processing on standard mail lists.
The Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB) will become the new standard in May 2009. MarketPlace-Mail.com has already been approved for this change and will be implementing it on addressing postcards, envelopes and self-mailers.
And what about flats (essentially large envelopes)? That change will have a major impact on the design and addressing requirements. The Post Office says this change will have a huge impact on cost savings, cutting time for mail processing and potentially eliminating many carrier routes. These rules go into effect March 29, 2009.
There will be an overhaul of mail specifications. There will be a much bigger gap in postage rates. Some mailers saw a 20 to 40 percent increase in their postage costs, especially for catalogs.
Our understanding, after talking to several postal officials, is that small mailers will soon be shut out of even being able to do bulk mailings. Churches and real estate agents will not have the $2,000 per year software necessary to certify their mail.
The post office is trying to get away from servicing the small bulk mail customers like churches and real estate agents who sort their mail manually. The want everyone to invest in the "PAVE Certified" software that needs to be updated 6 times a year!
MarketPlace-Mail.com will stay current and and learn a new set of acronyms. We have added DPV to CASS starting in August 2007. We have set up a mailers ID and can now use the new "Intelligent Barcode". We offer NCOA processing and are learning the new rules for flats. We are active in our Postal Customer Council.
There is a reason for our services -- we save you from having to deal directly with the post office. Trust us, there is a definite reason for the saying "Go Postal!"
MarketPlace-Mail.com offers professional mail service in Raleigh, the capital city of NC. We pride ourselves on handling our projects ASAP.
We do mailings all over the Triangle. We offer custom mailing solutions to help our clients. We can also help design high performance marketing campaigns. If you're money mailer needs to be handled quickly, contact us at 919-848-4332 or fill out the form for a quote.