Site Archives Freight Costs

American Catalog Mailers Association Update


It’s been a busy summer for the American Catalog Mailers Association, formed this past spring in response to the unexpectedly severe USPS Standard Mail Flats rate increases that have presented a crisis for the catalog industry. The association serves as an advocacy group for catalog mailers only (the definition includes “anyone with significant interests in […]

Improving Outbound Freight Contracts


Outbound freight costs continue to rise, but it is possible for direct marketers to optimize their situations. The good news is that all carrier contracts can be improved—most contracts have a short-term termination clause. However, there are two important steps you must take to achieve all or part of the potential improvement: 1) You have […]

How Is the New USPS Flats Rate Affecting [Your] Direct Mail Strategy?


Nonprofits are looking at shifting flat mailings to letters, even though the perception is that letters have less impact. The DMA reports that catalogers are sending postcard mailings to prospects and inviting them to request a catalog. The postcards can advertise an item to entice recipients to order the item and a catalog. The postcards […]

“Band-Aid” Relief for Unkind Postal Cut


Got a minute? Try taking this week’s USPS quiz. What “leaves Standard letter rates untouched, protects the Postal Service’s financial standing, allows USPS projected revenues to meet expected costs and does not reduce the contingency fund”? (The quote is from Dan Blair, chairman of the Postal Regulatory Commission.)
The correct answer is the PRC’s new proposal […]

Sea Change: New Postal Rates, the Catalog Industry, and the DMA


I want to say as a DMA member, speaker at many DMA conferences and a member of the Multichannel Council OPCOM committee, I am disappointed in the quality of the lobbying on the postal rate issues. One DMA executive said to me recently, “The DMA and its lobbyist were caught by surprise by the Rate […]

NCOF Shipping and Handling Roundtable: Freight Analysis


Focused discussion groups and roundtables can make you aware of innovative ideas, provide feedback from your peers about issues or concepts you might want to explore, and spark your own thought processes. Curt Barry hosted a Shipping and Handling Roundtable at this year’s National Conference on Operations and Fulfillment, and here are a few of […]