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 Commission’s ruling.” I appreciate the candor, but in my naïve way of thinking I always thought lobbyists were paid to shape and influence legislation. I think the DMA has to deal with many conflicting groups in terms of the mailing community and the catalog industry got the short end of the stick this time around. (Other members of the industry have felt the need for a more dedicated voice—see the May 4 blog entry on the new American Catalog Mailers Association.) For my part, I will keep my membership and do everything I can do to help the DMA and our clients work through this crisis and sea change.
Speaking of sea change. The CTO of a major cataloger said to me last week that there are some bright sides: “We will be killing less trees; we will have to be more on target with our mailings and use more sophisticated database marketing; the postal increase will change the nature of the catalog and necessarily drive business to the Web where we can show the total product line; and the total costs may be lower.”
Maybe we all need to step back and give a total assessment!
Jeff Barry is Director of Marketing of F. Curtis Barry & Co., a multichannel operations consulting company focusing on the entire direct fulfillment process with expertise in freight analysis.