USPS Defers Implementation of Full-Service Intelligent Mail Requirement for Automation Prices

Personally I believe this decision is in the best interest of the viability of the Post. There are too many small mailers that do not have the time or desire to comply with yet another mandated change in preparation requirements.  By delaying this, it should reduce the decline of the use of mail in the marketing mix.

This change should be incentive based, concurrent with the workshare savings it drives.  I like the carrot vs. stick approach.  Here is the press release:

The U.S. Postal Service is disappointed with the portion of last week’s ruling from the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) which held that the implementation of Full-Service Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) constitutes a rate increase. This ill-conceived decision will impair complete adoption of Full-Service IMb and hinder the Postal Service’s ability to promote a technology that enhances the value of mail, which is critical to the development of next-generation digital products and services. The PRC’s overly expansive view of the price cap demonstrates why comprehensive postal reform legislation should include additional pricing authority for the Postal Service Board of Governors.

Due to the PRC ruling, the Postal Service is delaying the Jan. 26, 2014 implementation of the Full-Service Intelligent Mail requirement for automation price discounts. Mailers who are not currently enrolled in full-service effective Jan. 26, 2014 will still be able to claim automation prices. To achieve the best pricing, however, mailers must continue meeting full-service requirements.

Despite this delay, the Postal Service remains strongly committed to full-service adoption for all mailers. The value of full-service is well known and helps the mailing community to get the best value-added experience for its mail. The Postal Service will continue moving aggressively to achieve 100 percent visibility in the mail through full-service.

We encourage mailers to contact their Mail Service providers and Software vendors to help transition to full-service to get the full-service discount prices and access the benefits listed below.

We have developed an online Intelligent Mail Small Business tool that enables even the smallest mailers to take the first steps into full-service. The tool remains in place and local bulk mail entry units will continue assisting very small customers and provide them information on how they can use the small business tool to prepare mailings to receive automation and full-service discount prices.

Full-Service provides customers with:

·         An additional per piece discount on every Full-Service mailpiece.

·         Address correction information at no additional cost for Full-Service mailpieces, providing Change of Address (or COA) information and Nixie (or undeliverable-as-addressed) information.

·         The ability to track service performance through reports and scan information.

·         Container, Tray and Mailpiece visibility.

·         Annual permit fees will be waived when 90 percent or more of cumulative annual mailings consist of Full-Service mail.

·         The opportunity to use the same permit at any location via our Mail Anywhere program.

# # #

To learn about the benefits and requirements of full-service, visit our RIBBS website at http://ribbs.usps.gov. Click on Latest News under the Intelligent Mail Services tab to find the latest news on full-service – including the simplified process for testing full-service mailings. To expedite mailer’s participation in full-service, a list of authorized software vendors that have tested their products with the Postal Service can be found on RIBBS/Certifications/eDoc & Full-Service https://ribbs.usps.gov/index.cfm?page=electronicdoc.

For questions, contact your local Business Mail Entry Unit or the PostalOne! Help Desk at 1-800-522-9085 or via email at fullservice@usps.gov. 

PRC Rules on Postage Rate Hike, Exigent Ruling Due Next Month

By Ina Steiner  EcommerceBytes.com  November 25, 2013 The USPS can raise the price of a stamp from 46 to 47 cents in January, but whether the agency can raise it to 49 cents has yet to be decided. On Thursday, the Postal Regulatory Committee (PRC) approved the Postal Service's September request to raise Market Dominant rates in accordance with the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index, but with one caveat having to do with its requirements for improved mail tracking called Intelligent Mail barcode - more on that below. But the USPS had also submitted a renewed exigent request in September asking to raise rates higher than the Consumer Price Index due to the 2007 - 2009 recession, and PRC Chairman Ruth Goldway told EcommerceBytes to expect that ruling in about a month, calling the exigent request "complicated." Note that the exigent request does not impact Competitive products such as Priority Mail, but does impact Market Dominant products, including First Class Mail. (See more on how Priority Mail rates will change in January. As a basis of comparison: Under the Market Dominant price adjustment, the cost of single-piece letters and cards would increase 1.141%, while the cost of parcels would increase 6.335%. (Note that the latter is higher than the overall increase for First-Class Mail because its cost coverage is 98.5 percent - in other words, the revenue generated doesn't cover its cost.) Under the exigent request, the cost of single-piece letters and cards would increase 4.276%, while the cost of parcels would increase 4.349%. The table above is a partial screenshot and doesn't include all classes of Market Dominant mail. The Exigent Request: History In March 2010, the USPS outlined a 10-year plan to address declining revenue and volume, including a call for a move to five-day delivery. It also filed a request for exigent rate increase, arguing a causal relationship between the recession of 2007 - 2009 and its dire financial predicament, and asking the PRC to approve the rate hike based on a sharp decline in mailing volumes "due to" the poor economy. PRC Chairman Goldway acknowledged the recession was an exigent circumstance but denied the request, because the Postal Service failed to quantify the impact of the recession on its finances and to show how its rate request related to the resulting loss of mail volume. The USPS took the matter to court, which sent the case back to the PRC in 2011, and in December of that year, the PRC issued Order No. 1059 in which it granted the Postal Service's motion to supplement the record and stated that, if the Postal Service wished to continue pursuing its exigent request, it would have to complete the submission of an entire case. The Exigent Request: Current Events The USPS held off on responding to Order No. 1059 in the hopes that Congress would pass postal reform legislation, saying it had considered it prudent to delay responding in the hopes that comprehensive legislation would provide sufficient financial relief, but said last month it had reached a position where it had to move forward. The USPS renewed its exigent request in September, characterizing it as reasonable. "While the Postal Service could have requested price increases equaling several billion dollars in contribution, it has limited itself to increases equaling $1.78 billion in annual contribution. It did so out of an abundance of caution. The Postal Service is mindful that mailers are also facing a slow recovery from the recession, and therefore it is being careful to avoid significant price increases." It also said that, "even if one were to focus only on the losses through 2009, the Postal Service's request for $1.78 billion in contribution represents less than half of the contribution lost due to the recession through 2009." One of the authors of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 (PAEA), Maine Senator Susan Collins R-ME, submitted a letter to the Postal Regulatory Commission in September outlining her opposition to the USPS exigent rate request, arguing that the revenue losses resulted from "the effects of electronic diversion" rather than the recession. Goldway told EcommerceBytes last week that the concept of the PAEA was to provide for emergencies such as a hurricane that wiped out facilities in 3 states, or some emergency where the Postal Service couldn't deliver mail and lost a lot of revenue and needed to get money back, "so it would be an isolated instance and you'd have a surcharge on the rate to just pay for that. But this is more structural in nature, so is it okay to build in a permanent rate increase or should it be still be structured as a kind of surcharge?" The Exigent Request: Timing of the Decision "We have 90 days in which to do it," Goldway said, "and the 90 days end somewhere before Christmas, and then with the shutdown, we could take another 16, we're trying not to. So that decision won't come out until the earliest late next month. But the Postal Service has the permission to raise, for instance, First Class rates from 46 to 47 now, with the decision issued (last week)." The Regular CPI Request While normally the PRC would approve market dominant rate increases in line with the Consumer Price Index, this year it was complicated by something called the IMb. Effective January 26, 2014, the USPS is requiring a Full Service Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) on all First-Class Mail postcards, letters, and flats, Standard Mail letters and flats, Periodicals letters and flats and Bound Printed Matter flats in order to qualify for automation discounts. (In other words, it affects volume mailers such as those in the Direct Marketing industry.) Parties filing comments about the request expressed concerns regarding the Postal Service's failure to include the impact of the mandatory requirements of Full Service IMb in its price cap calculation. One asserted that "If the Postal Service can increase revenue through changes in mailing rules, the Postal Service will be able to contrive, without limit, mailing rules that can drive mailers to more costly rate categories or classes of mail so that revenues will increase significantly without regard to the price cap limitations." The PRC determined that Full Service IMb mail preparation requirements were a classification change and that its effects must be included in its calculation of the percentage change in rates. "Concurrent implementation of the proposed rate adjustments and the Full Service IMb requirements would result in increases in First-Class Mail, Standard Mail, and Periodicals that exceed the statutory Consumer Price Index price cap, currently at 1.696 percent." According to the ruling, "The Postal Service may implement the proposed rate adjustments, minus the Full Service IMb requirements, effective January 26, 2014. Alternatively, the Postal Service may adjust its proposed rates for First-Class Mail, Standard Mail, and Periodicals rates in a manner comparable to the implementation of Full Service IMb requirements in Package Services and file amended rates." Goldway told EcommerceBytes, "Our job is to make sure the Postal Service raises prices no higher than the CPI for every class of mail." The Postal Service must notify the PRC of its intentions and provide necessary supporting documents by November 27, 2013. The USPS released a statement in response to the PRC's decision last week, calling it "ill-conceived" and stating it demonstrated why comprehensive postal reform legislation should include additional pricing authority for the Postal Service Board of Governors. "The Postal Service strongly believes that the PRC's decision hinders growth opportunities for the mailing industry and the Postal Service, and harms our efforts to ensure our financial stability. The Postal Service remains committed to 100 percent Full-Service IMb adoption and we will continue working to achieve this goal." In the meantime, mailers will have to wait until late next month when the PRC rules on the exigent request to learn if rates could rise even more dramatically.

About the author:Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com.

UPS 2014 Rate Increase was just announced.

Average increase of 4.9% for Ground, Air and International parcel products effective December 30, 2013.

As it has historically done, UPS Ground increases are higher at the lighter weights and less impacting at heavier weights (see chart below):

The 2014 Ground Minimum Charge is $6.24, a 6.8% increase from 2013.

For years, the UPS “Daily Rates” were better than FedEx’s list rates.  However, with the 2014 rate increase, the UPS Daily Rates are now a lot closer with FedEx, especially for 1-2 day service options.  On the whole, UPS Daily Rates are still less expensive for 3 Day Air than FedEx Express Saver, but it depends on weight and zone configurations.  

Again in 2014, UPS “Standard Rates” will match FedEx’s published rates.

UPS also announced increases to package surcharges and accessorial charges.  To preview rates and review surcharge increases, visit: http://rates.ups.com/surcharges.html.

FedEx’s average 3.9% rate increase for Express products takes effect January 6, 2014, one week after the UPS increase.  FedEx has not yet announced its 2014 Ground and FedEx Home Delivery increases, but it is expected to match UPS within the next few days.

It is important to note that FedEx maintains a more favorable fuel surcharge threshold than UPS for both Express and Ground packages (at current fuel prices).

A more comprehensive analysis from Shipware, LLC is forthcoming.

U.S. Postal Service Announces New Prices for 2014

Price increases expected to generate $2 billion in new revenue to improve financial situation 

WASHINGTON — The United States Postal Service today announced proposed price changes, including an increase in the price of a First-Class Mail single-piece letter from 46 cents to 49 cents. The proposed changes, which would go into effect in January 2014, are intended to generate $2 billion in incremental annual revenue for the Postal Service.

Highlights of the new single-piece First-Class Mail pricing, effective Jan. 26, 2014 include:

*         Letters (1 oz.) — 3-cent increase to 49 cents

*         Letters additional ounces — 1-cent increase to 21 cents

*         Letters to all international destinations (1 oz.) — $1.15

*         Postcards — 1-cent increase to 34 cents

Stamp prices have stayed consistent with the average annual rate of inflation of 4.2 percent since the Postal Service was formed in 1971.

 Pricing for Standard Mail, Periodicals, Package Services and Extra Services also will be adjusted as part of a filing to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) scheduled to take place Sept. 26.

The Governors of the Postal Service voted Sept. 24 to seek price increases above the typical annual increases associated with changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

In a letter disseminated to customers today, Board of Governors Chairman Mickey Barnett described the “precarious financial condition” of the Postal Service and the “uncertain path toward enactment of postal reform legislation” as primary reasons for seeking price changes above the CPI increase. He also indicated that the price adjustment above the CPI increase is necessary in order to ensure that the Postal Service will be able to maintain and continue the development of postal services of the type and quality which America needs.

 “Of the options currently available to the Postal Service to align costs and revenues, increasing postage prices is a last resort that reflects extreme financial challenges,” said Barnett in the letter. “However, if these financial challenges were alleviated by the timely enactment of laws that close a $20 billion budget gap, the Postal Service would reconsider its pricing strategy. We are encouraged by the recent introduction of comprehensive postal reform legislation in Congress, and despite an uncertain legislative process, we are hopeful that legislation can be enacted this year.”

Except in exceptional or extraordinary circumstances, postage price increases are capped at the rate of inflation as measured by the CPI-U. The Postal Service is filing a price increase above CPI-U due to extraordinary and exceptional circumstances which have contributed to continued financial losses. The Postal Service recorded a $15.9 billion net loss last fiscal year and expects to record a loss of roughly $6 billion in the current fiscal year, and has an intolerably low level of available liquidity even after defaulting on its obligation to make prefunding payments for retiree health benefits. 

The PRC will review the prices before they become effective Jan. 26, 2014, and must agree the prices are consistent with applicable law. The new price proposals are scheduled to be filed Sept. 26 and will be available on the PRC website at www.prc.gov and also will be available at http://pe.usps.com.

The full text of the Board chairman’s letter sent to postal customers about the pricing decision will be available later today at the following link:

http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2013/pr13_chairman-letter.htm.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

USPS Plans to Make Priority Mail a Guaranteed Delivery Service

By Ina Steiner 
EcommerceBytes.com 
August 19, 2013

U.S. Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe and Chief Marketing and Sales Officer Nagisa Manabe hosted a web conference call on Wednesday with reporters to discuss recent changes to Priority Mail and its new business strategy to drive USPS growth in the shipping marketplace.

In response to a post-briefing question, the Postal Service told EcommerceBytes that its future plans include moving to a guaranteed service for Priority Mail day-specific delivery.

Background - Changes to Priority Mail
On July 28, the USPS rebranded Express Mail to "Priority Mail Express," and added an estimated delivery time designation on shipping labels and in the USPS Tracking information. It also added free insurance for domestic Priority Mail ($50 for most customers, $100 in insurance for high-volume shippers who are Commercial Plus customers).

EcommerceBytes described the five things online sellers should know about the postal changes in this July 3rd Newsflash article and cleared up some questions sellers had about insurance in this July 9th article, but the changes were ushered in with little fanfare from the postal service until its August 14th press briefing.

Why the Changes?
The Postmaster General referred to the changes to Priority Mail as "a bright spot in the business in terms of an important refresh in one of our core offerings in our marketplace." As EcommerceBytes noted, the USPS experienced solid gains in the package business in its third fiscal quarter, which it attributed in large part to growth in ecommerce, when shipping and package revenue spiked 8.8 percent for the quarter.

"We do have some flexibility in our business model to innovate especially around the package side of the business," Donahoe told reporters. "We've taken advantage of those opportunities and will continue to do so," and he said the Priority Mail changes have great potential to drive new revenue.

The Postal Service's Manabe said in terms of business strategy, "our refresh of Priority Mail is really geared to fill some competitive gaps in the shipping marketplace, and by filling these gaps, we expect to drive strong revenue growth in our package business."

Manabe said ecommerce was the driving force behind the Postal Service's growth in the package delivery business. "People are ordering products online and are having them delivered at ever-increasing rates. We've been able to capitalize on that trend with shipping options that are secure, affordable, reliable, familiar and available in every geography. We've also been effective with innovations in our package category such as flat rate shipping and marketing efforts such as, "if it fits, it ships.""

Confusion over Day-Specific Delivery Designation
Effective July 28th, Priority Mail packages began displaying an estimated service of 1 day, 2 days, or 3 days - the estimated delivery date is displayed on the payment receipt, online shipping label and in the USPS Tracking information.

What causes some confusion is the fact that Priority Mail Express is a guaranteeddelivery date similar to services from UPS and Fedex, while the Priority Mail 1 Day, 2 Day, and 3 Day dates are not guaranteed - they are estimates based on the package's departure and ship-to location, a concept that many have trouble grasping when first encountering the delivery time designations.

EcommerceBytes asked if the delivery time designation took into account Sundays, and if not, whether there had been any thought to change 2-DAY to something more like "2-Business Days," for example. The response from a USPS spokesperson following the call was, "Day specific delivery follows normal, 6-day mail delivery business hours for the Postal Service. As most know, that's Mon-Saturday."

We also asked if there been any thought to add the word "estimate" to the delivery time designation. The spokesperson said, "Future plans do include moving to a guaranteed service for day-specific delivery. Customers can always opt for Priority Mail express for guaranteed service. The 1-2-3 day-specific delivery time is when we expect for the mail to arrive based on the origin and destination of the package."

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com.

PB selling its Managed Services division to Apollo Global Management in Q4

PBI announced they will be selling its managed services division to Apollo Global Management, LLC for about 400 Million dollars.  The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

For the last 15 years many mid to large companies have outsourced their mail and document services to Facilities Management (FM) companies to concentrate on their core competencies

So what will this mean to the very competitive FM marketplace that frankly has very few competitors with national coverage?  Currently, virtually all of the (non PB) FM players shun PB mailing equipment and services since they are direct competitors.  Neopost and Hasler are the main beneficiaries of these relationships since they are the other large provider.

Will the new Apollo FM operation open up and allow their analysts freedom to choose the best qualified product value for the application or will the blinded loyalty to the PB brand continue?  If the former is adopted how will Ricoh, Oce and others respond?  Will they consider offering "that which shall not be named"?  This should be interesting to follow.

Details reported by the WSJ, 7/30/13: For its part, Pitney Bowes plans to focus on its mail and digital-commerce businesses. The company has been consolidating its business to reduce costs.

Pitney Bowes also reported that it swung to second-quarter loss of $4.6 million, or five cents a share, compared with year-earlier earnings of $104.2 million, or 50 cents a share. Excluding restructuring charges, write-downs and other items, adjusted earnings from continuing operations were up at 52 cents from 51 cents.

Revenue eased 0.7% to $1.16 billion as double-digit growth in its production mail and mail services mostly offset weakness in other areas.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters recently expected per-share earnings of 43 cents on revenue of $1.19 billion.

Pitney Bowes shares were up 1.8% at $14.99 in recent premarket trading. Apollo shares closed Monday at $26.60 and were inactive premarket.

House to consider the ending of Door to Door Delivery - "It's a Cluster ___"

7/25/2013

Yesterday it was announced that the House of Representatives panel working on Postal reform passed a proposal to eliminate curbside delivery by 2022. This includes deliveries to mailboxes at the end of driveways, and cluster box delivery would replace letter carriers slipping mail into front-door boxes. Estimated savings from this is 4.5 Billion annually.   This panel is headed by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the measure is now heading for a full vote on House floor.

While giving the Post latitude to make more independent business decisions would be welcome, a new mandate to upset the public from Congress is not what is needed.  Its incredible that Congressman Issa continues to dodge the major challenges facing the USPS, created by Congress, that is making them leak red ink.  It is very confusing but like most government conspiracies it is important to follow the money. 

In 2002, the USPS Inspector General found that the Post had overpaid 80 Billion to the US Treasury for federal government  pensions.  A lot of former military found second careers at the USPS, these prior years of service count toward their federal pension and the Post was shouldering 100% of those costs. 

No one argues that the Post over paid, but Congress did not want to take an 80 Billion dollar budget deficit hit for making it right so they made a deal as part of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) of 2006.  The Post would be relieved from making future pension payments for the credits earned while in the Military and to make up for the cash shortfall they would be required to prefund 75 years’ worth of future health care costs in just 10 years of payments. No other agency or company in the world has such a mandated burden.

Before the economic downturn in late 2007, the Post was doing well and in exchange for some new autonomy for their completive product line (Shipping Services), a streamlined method to adjust rates for their Market Dominant products (Mailing Services) and future pension relief they reluctantly agreed.   Many industry veterans believed the bill that Congress jammed down their throats was short sighted and unfair to the Post and recognized that this was a disguised tax on the American public!

Any wonder why we don’t trust politicians?  They created this problem and they have the obligation to fix it fairly without any more accounting tricks and hidden taxes.  The Post has been backed into a corner, and I for one applaud them in their successful efforts.  They have dramatically reduced their workforce thru automation and logistical efficiency gains while their on-time delivery performance improves every quarter. 

Why does Congress and the press continually dump on the Post? If they were a private company, they would rank among the 50 largest in the world.  They are the largest deliverer of mail and parcels in the world, with more retail locations than Starbucks, McDonalds and Walmart combined.  The Post is one of the world’s most environmentally conscious entities, they are the #1 “most trusted Government agency” and the #3 “most trusted American organization”.  It is estimated that the overall Industry that supports them employs well over 6 Million people. 

The good news is that the Parcel delivery side of their business is thriving and driving records profits. With 151 million daily deliveries, they handle 40% of the world’s volume at the lowest per unit cost and deliver to the largest geographical area than any other Post.  So they are incredibly efficient, trusted, environmentally conscious and secure. Why do they continually get stymied by our Government and trashed by the major news media?

They got the public to overwhelmingly approve their plan to eliminate Saturday delivery for Letter mail, you would think Congress would stay out of their way, but no, they put an end to that 2 billion annual savings plan.  It boggles my mind.

So what does Issa want to do now to fix the post, force cluster boxes?  I wonder who else is going to profit from this?  Get real ISSA and make meaningful Postal Reform a reality.

Gordon S. Glazer, CMDSM, CMDSS, MDP, MDC

Gordon is the President of Mail Consulting Services for Shipware, LLC. He specializes in reducing shipping and mailing costs through modal optimization and other strategies. He welcomes your comments and can be reached at Gordon@shipware.com or 858.879.2020 x 108

Free Parcel Insurance for Priority Mail

$50 of Free Insurance for Commercial Base and $100 of Free insurance for Commercial Plus was announced a couple weeks ago by Parcel Magazine's Webinar: "How to Take Advantage of Major New USPS Infrastructure Improvements" Effective date is July 28, 2013

Ina Steiner in her blog recently posted some clarifications to questions about the program:

USPS Clears up Questions about Priority Mail Insurance

Online merchants who rely on Priority Mail to send packages got some good news - beginning July 28th, domestic Priority Mail will include, without additional charge, either $50 or $100 insurance for loss, damage, and missing merchandise.

But shippers had trouble determining under which situation they would receive $50 in free insurance, and in which situation they would receive $100 in free insurance. Spokesperson Darleen Reid-DeMeo addressed the question for EcommerceBytes on Monday.

"Customers walking into a PO (Retail) or using USPS.com to ship generally will get $50 Priority Mail Insurance included with their purchase. Commercial customers who ship large volumes in most instances will receive $100 Priority Mail Insurance included on each package. These customers are volume driven and provide electronic manifests."

But, as many merchants know, there are two commercial rates - Commercial Base (small and medium sized sellers generally get this rate when using online postage services), and Commercial Plus, for high-volume shippers.

According to Eric Nash of Stamps.com, the $100 Priority Mail insurance is only for Commercial Plus customers. "Overall, Stamps.com prints Commercial Base pricing for all packages and the USPS will be offering $50 of free coverage in Priority Mail for customers." Those customers who have been approved for Commercial Plus pricing from the USPS will automatically receive $100 of coverage for all of their Priority Mail packages when they print their shipping labels using Stamps.com.

"It's important to note that this free insurance coverage is being added from the USPS for shipping labels that include the Intelligent Mail package barcode," Nash said, and since the insurance is provided from the USPS, all claims would need to be processed with the USPS at usps.com/domestic-claims.

Endicia Product Marketing Manager Jessica Foth said Endicia would also support the new free USPS insurance coverage for all of its customers automatically, both for Commercial Base and Commercial Plus shippers.

Another question raised by a merchant was whether they'd be able to purchase additional insurance coverage beyond what the USPS was providing with Priority Mail shipments. Reid-DeMeo said additional insurance coverage may be available for an additional fee.

The new, free insurance for Priority Mail comes as the USPS rebrands its Express Mail product under the Priority Mail umbrella - as of July 28th, it will be called Priority Mail Express. As part of the changes, all Priority Mail packages will have an estimated service of 1 day, 2 days, or 3 days that will be displayed on the payment receipt, online shipping label and in the USPS Tracking information.

Reid-DeMeo said nothing has changed with regard to insurance for Priority Mail Express shipments - up to $100 of insurance is still included at no extra charge with Domestic Priority Mail Express shipments, and for international shipments, document reconstruction insurance up to $100 and merchandise insurance up to $200 is included, at no extra charge, against loss, damage, or missing contents, she said.

Current prices for Priority Mail will remain in place. See more information in Five Things to Know about USPS Changes to Priority Mail

Presorted First Class Mail - Court rules with PRC to raise rates congruent with costs to serve

Courthouse News Service

(CN) - The Post Office's discount for presorted mail cannot exceed the cost the office avoids by not having to sort the mail itself, the D.C. Circuit ruled.
     "Through snow and rain and heat and gloom of night, the Postal Service delivers the mail," Judge Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the three-judge panel. "But the Postal Service does so under the watchful eye of a separate independent agency, the Postal Regulatory Commission."
     The Postal Regulatory Commission establishes the rates that the U.S. Postal Service may charge for mail.
     In a recent order, the commission found that the U.S.P.S. is giving too large of a discount for presorted first-class mail compared to single-piece first-class mail.
     While the discount encourages presorting, lowering costs for the Postal Service, the discount currently exceeds the cost the Postal Service would pay to sort the mail itself.
     "The Postal Service is unhappy because it believes that it needs to offer bulk mailers large discounts so that bulk mailers will continue to use the U.S. Postal Service rather than, say, email," Kavanaugh wrote.
     It sought review of the commission's order, but the D.C. Circuit shot it down Tuesday.
     "We think the correct statutory analysis here is extremely simple and supports the commission: the discount that the Postal Service offers for presorting is a 'rate discount[] provided to mailers for ... presorting,'" Kavanaugh wrote. "Therefore, it is clear that, as the commission concluded, the amount of the discount that the Postal Service may offer for presorting is subject to the statute's workshare discount limit, and the discount may not exceed the cost that the Postal Service avoids as a result of the presorting."
     The commission reasonably concluded that customers choose to presort their mail based on the lower price, and a 1 percent increase in price will cause a "significant change in demand," according to the four-page decision. 

Priority Mail to add free insurance?

Building on the brand

USPS makes changes to its expedited product lineup

USPS is making changes in its expedited products to add to their value and make the Postal Service more competitive in the shipping marketplace. 

Starting July 28, Express Mail will be renamed Priority Mail Express to make use of the strong Priority Mail brand. All characteristics of the current Express Mail service will remain unchanged.

In addition, Express Mail International will be renamed Priority Mail Express International. The Express Mail Corporate Account will be called USPS Corporate Account.

The Postal Service also is seeking approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission to automatically include insurance — at no additional charge — with most Priority Mail pieces. Customers will receive $50 or $100 of insurance coverage, depending on the postage payment method used.

“We’re taking steps to keep the Postal Service competitive and meet customer needs,” said New Products and Innovation VP Gary Reblin. “We can continue to grow our package business by innovating, offering customers a variety of delivery options and seizing new opportunities for growth, especially from e-commerce.”

Click here for more information on these changes. Additional details will be coming in the weeks ahead.

Implementation of Full-Service Intelligent Mail Requirements for Automation Prices

The Postal Service will soon be releasing the following Final rule (publishing in the Federal Register) - which will open up a window for you, the mailer, to comment.

My Take on the whole Full Service IMB Mandate:

The USPS is pushing ahead with this agenda which is a mistake.  There is a disconnect between making the mail run more efficiently and making the USPS an easy to use option for the American public.  In other words, operations is running the show and Marketing (think sales) will be suffering the consequences.

How is this going to effect the marketplace?
Time will tell, how this all will unfold.  Looking into my crystal ball, I see a lot of frustrated mailers giving up, turning their mail over to professional Letter Shops and or moving their marketing dollars to other media.  Another nail in the coffin for mail in America. Hopefully these folks will reach out to industry for help in making this transition.

Whats Changed?
The Post office recently implemented changes to the testing environment (TEM) that will help mailers make this change.  They have finally changed from a long and tedious process to a simplified one step process -  IF you have vendor software that has been pre-approved.

Satori software, was one of the leaders in getting this change done and we here at Shipware are proud to represent and make these inexpensive packages available for all of our clients.

So what is "Full Service IMb anyway?  I don't want to read 57 pages of postal speak!
In a nutshell its the next step in full visibility intelligent mail. All pieces in the mailing, along with their respective containers will have a unique serial number and will be linked together.  The documentation will need to be transmitted electronically.  It requires critical information regarding the mailing relationships: who is doing the mailing who it is for is required (by/for).

So is there any good news?
Yes, if you want to keep getting Automation discounts on your mail.  There are some additional good business reasons why you may wish to embrace this change.  Free "One Code ACS" - that is the electronic form of address correction data. Free "One Code Confirm" -this the is ability to track either your out-bound or in-coming mail as it travels thru the mail stream.

If you believe that the Post Office should run as efficiently as possible then this change will be good news to you as it will help them perform detailed analysis on their performance.  We as consumers are already benefiting from this as we can see how long delivery is averaging at processing centers around the country.  The start the clock data, is a key performance piece, and part of the PAEA (Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006) that reorganized the P.O.  We have seen big improvements in all aspects of their on time performance - so we know it works.  This data is helping them transition to a leaner operation.

Any other good news?
Well, how about no more permit fees? yup, if 90% of your mail is Full Service, those will be waived! How about the ability to drop your mail at most BMEU facilities?  How about a Tech credit of up to $5000 for making the change to Full Service? This and more awaits, like it or not, this is the future of Automation Mail.

There were 52 comments on the preliminary ruling and these have all been addressed in this Final Rule, in many case with the same pre-packaged answer.

The Postal Service is revising Mailing Standards of the United 
States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®), throughout various 
sections to modify eligibility requirements for mailers to qualify for automation 
prices.

Effective January 26, 2014, use of “full-service” Intelligent Mail®
is required to qualify for automation prices for postcards (First-Class Mail®
only), letters, and flats when mailed using the following services: First-Class Mail, Standard Mail®
and Periodicals®; and for flats mailed at Bound Printed Matter®
prices. Additionally, the 10/24 transitional barcoded tray label format is eliminated,
and mailers are required to use the 24-digit Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb™) 
format on tray, tub, and sack labels.
EFFECTIVE DATE: January 26, 2014.


For all 57 pages of Fun and Excitement - actually it is a pretty comprehensive and easy to understand read of everything IMb
https://ribbs.usps.gov/intelligentmail_latestnews/documents/tech_guides/FinalRuleFullService.pdf

Congress Mandates Saturday Mail Delivery

From Mail: The Journal of Communication Distribution

The U.S. Congress has sent President Obama a bill mandating regular Saturday mail service. It is part of the 2013 continuing resolution to fund the federal government, which the President is expected to sign.

This action comes within weeks of the USPS announcement to end regular Saturday mail service. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe laid out plans in February to end regular Saturday service and maintain package delivery. Congress found common ground in mandating the status quo remain, as it has done in each of the appropriation bills passed since reorganization in 1971.

Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Representative Daryl Issa (R-CA) questioned the vagueness of the new law and told the USPS Board of Governors to move forward with their plans. "The Board of Governors has a fiduciary responsibility to utilize its legal authority to implement modified 6-day mail delivery as recently proposed," the lawmakers said.

A report by the Government Accounting Office takes issue with the USPS' legal rationale that congressional riders requiring service were not valid in a continuing resolution. The GAO said it does because "a continuing resolution maintains the status quo regarding government funding and operations."

A spokesman for the Postal Service said the Board of Governors will chart its next move at its April meeting.

Will UPS Go On Strike?

By Rob Martinez, DLP, CMDSS, President and CEO, Shipware LLC

As the calendar inches closer to a July 31 expiration of the collective bargaining agreement between
United Parcel Service (UPS) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), the parcel industry is
beginning to ask the question, will UPS go on strike?

In my view, it is highly unlikely. UPS is simply too profitable and has too much to lose to allow a labor
dispute with the IBT to occur. But then again, I incorrectly said the same thing in 1997 prior to the
eventual strike that shut UPS down for 15 days.

At issue are differences over two master labor agreements set to expire at the end July 2013: (1) The
2008-2013 UPS National Master Agreement for small parcel that covers approximately 250,000 IBT
members; and (2) The 2008-2013 UPS Freight Agreement which impacts about 13,000 workers.

Although the two sides began negotiations ten months early and progress has reportedly been made, a
deal has not yet been reached. In each of the past two negotiations (2002 and 2008), a deal was
reached well before the existing agreements expired.

What’s the status of contract negotiations, on what issues do the sides remain far apart, and when is
resolution expected?

While UPS will not discuss the substance of what is said at the negotiating table, UPS has confirmed that
progress is being made, the relationship is a positive one, and it fully believes an agreement will be
reached prior to the expiration of the existing contract. IBT, for its part, has provided regular updates on
its website (www.teamster.org) every few weeks.

Clearly, the 10-month head start to negotiations has led to early progress. Initial negotiations have
centered mostly on “non-economic” issues. Primary IBT issues and concerns are:

• Limiting UPS’s ability to subcontract or use non-IBT supervisors for union work;
• Allowing Union employees to accumulate discretionary days;
• Giving part-time Union workers the opportunity to move into full-time work;
• Concerns regarding work conditions, and health/safety issues;
• Excessive overtime for drivers that work 9.5 hours on three days in one work week;
• “Harassment” issues, including non-union UPS supervisors riding with Union drivers that file grievances;
• Protecting Teamster jobs threatened by the growth of UPS SurePost, a parcel product in which lightweight, low value, residential packages are tendered to the US Postal Service for “final mile” delivery.

The two sides have reportedly reached tentative agreements on many of these non-economic issues,

although a source stated the harassment issue is still being hotly negotiated.

More recent labor talks have involved “economic” matters including pensions, health care and wages.

What does UPS want? Again, a long standing policy of UPS is not to negotiate union agreements

through the media. Therefore, while UPS is publically short on describing substantive issues, it has

repeatedly stated that it simply wants a good contract that rewards its employees while allowing UPS to

be flexible and competitive in the marketplace.

Both sides remain far apart on health insurance. In recent bargaining sessions, UPS gave Teamster

negotiators a presentation supporting their position that workers should share some of the burden of

escalating healthcare costs. While IBT officials committed to working hard to identify creative solutions,

Ken Hall, Teamster’s General Secretary-Treasurer and Package Division Director drew the line in the

sand by declaring his goal is that “Teamsters at UPS (and UPS Freight) don’t pay a cent towards their

health insurance”.

IBT also proposed significant wage and pension increases, in particular to starting wages for part time

workers. According to a document posted on its website, Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), the

starting wage for all UPS part-timers, other than sorters and pre-loaders, has been frozen at $8.50/hour

since 1987.

However, it is unlikely that much progress can be made on wages and other economic proposals until

both sides have come to terms on healthcare.

While both sides have stated the goal of reaching a tentative agreement by the end of March, the

debate on healthcare costs has proved more complex than initially believed, and it has slowed progress.

Negotiations are reportedly scheduled through next week, but are likely to break off before resuming at

some point in April.

Once a handshake agreement has been reached, IBT and UPS will make a public announcement. IBT will

then send the contract to UPS Teamster-represented employees for approval and ratification, which can

take several weeks.

FedEx has reportedly met with many volume UPS shippers stating that they will not accept new

customers should UPS workers strike, and that if shippers wanted to shift business from UPS to FedEx,

now is the time.

However, as reported in the Wolfe Trahan “The State of Freight” first quarter 2013 shipper survey

results, 82% of shippers said they have no plans to shift parcel volumes to FedEx during IBT/UPS contract

negotiations. If a tentative agreement has not been reached by the end of March, Wolfe Trahan expects

to see an acceleration of volume shifts to alternate providers including FedEx, US Postal Service and

regional parcel carriers.

Rob Martinez, DLP is President & CEO of Shipware LLC, a parcel auditing and consulting company based in San Diego, CA. He welcomes questions and comments and can be reached at rob@shipware.com.

Postal Service Announces New Delivery Schedule

Six Days of Package Delivery, Five Days of Mail Delivery Begins August 2013

WASHINGTON — The United States Postal Service announced plans today to transition to a new delivery schedule during the week of August 5, 2013 that includes package delivery Monday through Saturday, and mail delivery Monday through Friday. The Postal Service expects to generate cost savings of approximately $2 billion annually, once the plan is fully implemented. “The Postal Service is advancing an important new approach to delivery that reflects the strong growth of our package business and responds to the financial realities resulting from America’s changing mailing habits,” said Patrick R. Donahoe, Postmaster General and CEO. “We developed this approach by working with our customers to understand their delivery needs and by identifying creative ways to generate significant cost savings.” Over the past several years, the Postal Service has advocated shifting to a five-day delivery schedule for mail and packages. However, recent strong growth in package delivery (14 percent volume increase since 2010) and projections of continued strong package growth throughout the coming decade led to the revised approach to maintain package delivery six days per week.  “Our customers see strong value in the national delivery platform we provide and maintaining a six-day delivery schedule for packages is an important part of that platform,” said Donahoe. “As consumers increasingly use and rely on delivery services — especially due to the rise of e-commerce — we can play an increasingly vital role as a delivery provider of choice, and as a driver of growth opportunities for America’s businesses.”   Once implemented during August of 2013, mail delivery to street addresses will occur Monday through Friday. Packages will continue to be delivered six days per week. Mail addressed to PO Boxes will continue to be delivered on Saturdays. Post Offices currently open on Saturdays will remain open on Saturdays.   Market research conducted by the Postal Service and independent research by major news organizations indicate that nearly seven out of ten Americans (70 percent) supported the switch to five-day delivery as a way for the Postal Service to reduce costs in its effort to return the organization to financial stability,   Support for this approach will likely be even higher since the Postal Service plans to maintain six-day package delivery. The Postal Service is making the announcement today, more than six months in advance of implementing five-day mail delivery schedule, to give residential and business customers time to plan and adjust. The Postal Service plans to publish specific guidance in the near future for residential and business customers about its new delivery schedule. Given the ongoing financial challenges, the Postal Service Board of Governors last month directed postal management to accelerate the restructuring of Postal Service operations in order to strengthen Postal Service finances. “The American public understands the financial challenges of the Postal Service and supports these steps as a responsible and reasonable approach to improving our financial situation,” said Donahoe. “The Postal Service has a responsibility to take the steps necessary to return to long-term financial stability and ensure the continued affordability of the U.S. Mail.” The operational plan for the new delivery schedule anticipates a combination of employee reassignment and attrition and is expected to achieve cost savings of approximately $2 billion annually when fully implemented. The Postal Service is currently implementing major restructuring throughout its retail, delivery and mail processing operations. Since 2006, the Postal Service has reduced its annual cost base by approximately $15 billion, reduced the size of its career workforce by 193,000 or 28 percent, and has consolidated more than 200 mail processing locations. During these unprecedented initiatives, the Postal Service continued to deliver record high levels of service to its customers. While the change in the delivery schedule announced today is one of the actions needed to restore the financial health of the Postal Service, legislative change is urgently needed to address matters outside the Postal Service’s control. The Postal Service continues to seek legislation to provide it with greater flexibility to control costs and generate new revenue and encourages the 113th Congress to make postal reform legislation an urgent priority. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

Saving the Value of Mail

The following article -reprinted with permission from Adam Lewenberg

President

Postal Advocate Inc.

I was asked by the USPS to do a presentation at National PCC day in October on how to increase the value of mail.  My first thought was that I would just talk about all of the main mail initiatives, but that did not seem to be getting to the root of the problem.  The mail industry has been beaten down in the past few years and the last thing anyone needed to listen to was me being a cheerleader.

I believe that one of the main problems is that there is a disconnect between the people in the mail industry, and those making the biggest decisions around mail.   Do our marketing departments know all of the newest mail trends for getting higher response rates or are they only hearing about email marketing and social media.  Are people in finance informed about how mail can be tracked with intelligent mail barcodes to know when their invoices are delivered and when payments are being returned, or are all they thinking about is converting to electronic statements?   If we want to keep mail alive, it is our job to educate our organizations on what is available and integrate mail into a broader strategy that aligns with our organizations goals.

If we want to save the value of mail, we need to provide more benefits and do so at a reduced cost.  Here is how we can accomplish this:

1. Embrace Technology and Change
2. Find Cost Savings and Efficiencies
3. Educate and Advocate

Embrace Technology and Change

People are going to move more communications to digital, but how can we integrate mail so it can be part of a multi-channel approach that drives people to the web?  Also, what are the latest trends in mail that can improve response rates to better compete for advertising resources?

Using Mail to Drive Web Activity – First off, people like getting mail.  “98% of consumers bring in their mail the day it is delivered and 77% sort through it immediately”. (Deliver Magazine)  But with advances in technology, we can use these printed pieces to get people to a web site or landing page and track responses.  Here are the three most common forms available:

1. QR Codes – A square barcode with a series of dots that can be printed on the envelope or document.  These codes get scanned by a smartphone or tablet to be directed to specific web content.  We have been seeing these crop up everywhere according to InfoTrends, “over 180 million Americans are familiar with mobile codes; over 50 million have interacted with them in the past year”.
2. Image Recognition – This is where we are instructed to take a picture on our smartphone of an image (Any image could be defined) that then takes us to a specific web page.  Use of this technology is still in its infancy but should take off as advertisers may prefer the flexibility over QR codes that could detract from their image goals.
3. Augmented Reality – By scanning a special character (that can be defined up front), the user can be taken to an interactive experience different from what they may get on the website.  We are seeing very creative content that can provide an entertaining experience to get your message heard.

Increasing the Value of the Offer – There is so much that can be done to creatively get your message heard through mail that I thought it was a good idea to give some examples of some of the latest trends.

• Variable Data Printing – This is printing one to one messages, graphics and offers in a single mailing.  According to a CAP Ventures study, “Repeated studies have found that on average, Variable Data pieces generate response rates ranging from 3 to 10 times higher than non-personalized direct mail”.
• Adding Targeted Advertising to Transactional Documents – Everyone (hopefully) looks at their bills and will typically spend much more time with them than an advertisement.  We also know many things about these customers because they have bought from us in the past.  It only seems logical to reformat our bills and statements to add advertising that will appeal to the consumer.
• Every Door Direct Mail – This is an amazing new service that makes it easy and inexpensive to get offers out without needing an address list.  All that you need to do is select the neighborhood, zip code, city or target area and print your piece.  The rates are some of the lowest available with the goal being to get companies to send mail who may have been afraid due to the cost and complexities.
• Picture Permits – Instead of the boring permit imprint on the upper right of each piece, you can now customize it with pictures and graphics.
• Repositionable Notes – The USPS now allows you to place sticky notes onto envelopes.   Many tabbing/stamp affixing units can automate this process and place these where you want on the envelope.  How great would it be to have a pull off coupon on each envelope that customers could use to place an order?
• Customized Market Mail – These are custom shaped post cards that can be designed around your marketing goals.  If you are trying to sell the newest car or house, wouldn’t it be great if the post card was in that shape?

Find Cost Savings and Efficiencies

With new USPS technology changes, we can all mail smarter while maximizing discounts.  Here are some of the best ways available today.

Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB) – Starting in January of 2013, all companies submitting mailings for discounts will need to convert to the Intelligent Mail Barcode (Basic) and in 2014 to Full Service.  When you look at the benefits with moving to Full Service, it makes sense to do it right away if possible.  No one likes change, but there are many benefits of IMB that can make it a win for most companies.  Here are some of the Full Service IMB Benefits.

• Postal Savings of $.001-.003 per piece.
• Free Address Correction Service, typically $.03-.50 each.
• Individual identifier on every piece of mail!  This gives us the ability to track mail!  Here are some applications where this could be a win for your organization.

• Reasons to Track Outgoing Mail Delivery:
  • Staffing/preparing call centers based on when mailings are delivered.
  • Receivables/collections to validate invoices/notes were delivered.
  • Renewal/cancellation notices got delivered.
• Reasons to Track Incoming Mail Delivery (IMB Being on your Reply Envelope):
  • Monitor response rates to special offers.
  • Know when to issue collection and dunning efforts.
  • Project cash flow and identify revenue that may be at risk.

Converting from Postnet barcodes to IMB is not necessarily easy and hopefully you are well on your way of meeting the looming January 2013 deadline.  In a nutshell, you need to apply with the USPS for a Customer Registration ID (CRID) and Mailer ID (MID), as well as a POSTALONE!™ account (for electronic documentation submission).  At the same time you need to work with your mail automation hardware and software providers about getting the physical barcode changed, tested and validated by the USPS.

I have a sense that many mailers may have waited to the last minute on making this change, thinking the USPS would push out this deadline.  If you are feeling behind on these requirements, there are plenty of places to go for help.   I strongly recommendhttps://ribbs.usps.gov/  and click on the different resources under the “Intelligent Mail Service” tab.  As you will find, the USPS is offering free webinars on what you need to do to implement the changes and the content from these sessions is stored on the site.  Also, many of the mail automation vendors are offering webinars and support to help with the change.  The key piece is to get it done and to make sure you are getting the best value out of the data this new barcode can provide.

Additional Ways to Reduce Mailing Costs:

1. Look at how you are sending your letters and flats today to see if you can move them to a lower price category (See Chart):
   1. Presort Services – If you are sending out over 400 daily pieces or 800 at one time, there may be presort service providers that can pick up our mail and allow you to get discounts.  Typically the USPS pays them the difference of the reduced rate you meter at, and what they can submit it down to by comingling with other mailers.
   2. Barcode In-House – If you are doing huge volumes through a presort provider, can you barcode the mail upfront to get the full automation discounts yourself?
   3. Convert to Standard – Can some of your First-Class® Mailings be converted to Standard Mail®?  The USPS has provided an excellent tool to see if your mail can qualify. http://pe.usps.com/text/standardeligibility/
   4. Convert light weight flats to letters.  This can reduce costs by over 50% and the envelopes are much less expensive.
   5. Switch to Electric Mail Tracking over the Retail services – You will get free Delivery Confirmation (Vs. $.75-85) and save $1.20 on your Certified Mail Return Reciept’s.
   6. Make sure you are getting Commercial Base Rates (2-14% savings) instead of Retail for Priority® and Express Mail.  Also, if you do over 75,000 Priority Mail® items or 7,000 Express Mail per year, you may be able to qualify for Plus Rates that add additional discounts.
   7. Compare USPS to UPS and FEDEX on a package by package basis – Regardless of your private carrier discounts, there are times where USPS will be much less expensive.  This will typically be for items less than 5 LB’s and going to residents or rural destinations.  Also, many items being sent today through the USPS may be less expensive and have faster delivery through the other carriers.   It is important to have rate shopping tools that make this easy.

Educate and Advocate

This is the most important aspect to saving mail because resources go to areas that have the most visibility (Remember the saying ”The squeaky wheel gets the grease”).  If we are not out their working with the groups responsible for the mail budgets and informing them about the ideas above, than no one else will.  Here are some methods on how to communicate the message inside your organization:

1. Meet regularly with your major mailers to talk about these changes and brainstorm on how they can be integrated to their objectives.
2. Have a mail services newsletter or get onto other internal organizational communications.
3. Keep examples of best in class mail pieces and use these to stimulate ideas and discussions.
4. Coordinate meetings with Marketing, Information Services and Finance about getting advertising on invoices and statements.
5. Push mail tracking information on the departments that can most benefit from the information.  We want them thinking about collecting information on outbound and inbound pieces.
6. Brag about your accomplishments – This may sound strange but we need to let people know the impact of the changes we are putting in place.  This will bring the visibility back to mail.

Conclusion

Mail can be saved if we take advantage of change instead of fighting it.  By mailing smarter, we can have better response rates, higher visibility, and lower costs.  The key to this strategy is to keep visibility on the positive aspects of what mail can bring vs. all of the negative media attention that drives focus away.

Adam Lewenberg, CMDSS is President of Postal Advocate Inc. with over 19 years of experience in the mail industry.  Their mission is to help entities with large numbers of locations reduce mail related expenses, recover lost postage funds, and make their spends easy to manage.  He can be reached at (617)372-8653 oradam.lewenberg@postaladvocate.com.