Author: Steve Kearney

House hearing on postal reform–May 18, 2016 The House Committee on Oversight and Government reform chaired by Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) held a hearing on the Postal Service on May 11. The panel of witnesses was similar to that at the Senate hearing in January: Ms. Megan Brennan Postmaster General United States Postal Service Testimony The…

Postal posts price promotion proposals–May 18, 2016 The Postal Service filed with the PRC a set of pricing proposals for promotional discounts starting in January 2017 that nonprofit mailers should take a look at for possible use. The USPS is giving longer notice of promotions that it has in recent years to encourage more customers…

Alliance notes–May 18, 2016 Donor Trends video: Mail Smarter. Inside the Fundraisers Playbook – How to Mail Less and Make More. Association of Fundraising Professionals: 2016 Fundraising Effectiveness Survey Report Bloomberg: The Post Office Almost Delivered Your First E-Mail Linn’s Stamp News: Congress set to address financial plight of U.S. Postal Service eCOMMERCEBYTES: USPS Touts…

Important facts about nonprofits and mail–May 5, 2016 Nonprofits generate one in ten pieces of mail delivered by the United States Postal Service. In 2015, that included 12.6 billion pieces of Nonprofit Standard Mail, 1.4 billion pieces of Nonprofit Periodicals, and over 1 billion pieces of First Class Mail primarily used to send donations to…

Big news: USPS headquarters marketing will have a nonprofit mail product manager–May 5, 2016 The Postal Service is in the process of setting up a product management group within its marketing and sales organization. Big news for us and them is that CMSO Jim Cochrane has proposed a dedicated product manager for nonprofit mail. We…

USPS/AAPC survey finds millennials like political direct mail  –May 5, 2016 In cooperation with the nonprofit American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC), the USPS conducted a survey and focus groups that evaluated young peoples’ preferences with regard to political campaigning. In announcing the results, the Postal Service said: “Contrary to common assumptions about digitally connected millennials,…

USPS employee survey results are not good–May 5, 2015 When a website obtained internal USPS employee survey results, it was not a pretty picture. The Postal Service last year administered for the first time the Gallup Q12 Employee Engagement Survey that is used by hundreds of organization which allows comparison with a large group of…

Alliance notes–May 5, 2015 USPS Link: Tech Transfer The NonProfit Times: Easter Seals Is Now Easterseals In National Rebranding BBC News: Denmark scraps first-class postal deliveries Direct Marketing News: ‘New Yorker’ gets a lot of things wrong about the USPS Direct Marketing News: The Lawyer, the Post Office, and the Union Man The Stranger: Some…

Postage rates return to inflation cap–April 19, 2016 All U.S. market dominant postage rates adjusted downward by about 4 percent on Sunday, April 10. The adjustment was not a “price cut” as some media portrayed it, but a return to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) price cap regime that was enacted by Congress in 2006.…

USPS proposal to set scope of 10-year review denied–April 19, 2016 Even before its customers could experience the return to inflation-capped postage prices starting April 10, the Postal Service reminded them that it intends to continue trying to eliminate the cap through the 10-year regulatory review. On April 7, the USPS petitioned the Postal Regulatory…