Shape of Things to Come

THE GREATEST opportunity to increase your print revenues is sitting smack in the middle of the U.S. Postal Service’s postage rate increase next month. The USPS is proposing that we change the way we calculate the postage on First Class mail. Currently, postage rates are based on the weight of the piece: one ounce, two ounces, etc. But in May the First Class rates are proposed to be calculated using a combination of weight and shape.

This is not a new concept coming from the USPS. In fact, weight/shape-based rate calculations have been in place for Standard mail since 1992. Essentially, the USPS and the mailing industry have categorized mail pieces into three shapes—Letters/Flats/Parcel. A full schedule of Standard Class rates exists for all three shapes. Letter-shaped mail pieces remain the champions of processing and the USPS is simply extending the incentives and the discounts onto First Class rates.

The first step is to make every effort to design your piece so it can be categorized as a letter. Of course, there are additional physical criteria that must be met for total USPS automation compatibility. But you should worry about the issues (and costs) of tabbing, folding, sealing, spot gluing, etc., after you have paid attention to size and shape and identified the postage incentives for your mail class. Then you can determine if meeting the additional criteria for total mail piece automation-compatibility is worth pursuing.

Today, postal issues must be considered at the earliest stages of the evolution of a mail piece. Postal automation-compatible mail has some very specific physical characteristic requirements, thus proper design is critical.

Not only will mail piece design become more critical next month, the quality of the address placed on the piece will have to meet stricter standards. Of particular note is the requirement to identify through Delivery Point Validation (DPV) whether or not the address on your mail piece exists in the USPS database.

Today, you can claim automation discounts if your address is ZIP+4 encoded; you print a POSTNET barcode on your mail piece, and your mail is sorted and presented following specific requirements. When new CASS-DPV requirements go into effect August 1, you will only be able to claim those same automation discounts if your addresses are DPV encoded.

Critical criteria of automation-compatible mail include: dimensions, fold location, address orientation, flexibility, POSTNET barcode and weight. The USPS has established a national network of business support centers. Each of these business centers is staffed with one or more mail piece design analysts. From a postal point of view, the local analyst should be the first contact you make once you have identified your direct mail concept.

Start out by looking at the design and shape of the pieces that your organization puts into the mail stream. The envelopes that accounting uses for invoicing; the sales department’s collateral materials; the organization’s Christmas cards—everything that can or is being mailed. Look at the inventory of these printed pieces. Determine the mailing category for each piece, and calculate the postage being paid now and the postage to be paid under the new rates. Then, work with your design department and your local mail piece design analyst to establish a plan for redesign.

The 2007 USPS rate increase is a perfect reason for you to contact every one of your current customers and a motivation to reach out to all those prospects on your list.

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Mary Ann Bennett is president and CEO of The Bennett Group and founder of the Mailing Training Institute located in Rochester, N.Y. She can be reached by calling (585) 424-2702 or e-mailing

maryann@the-bennett-group.com.