ACMA Needs Help to Challenge Damaging 10-Year Postal Review

Dear Industry Member:

Hopefully, you attended ACMA’s Postal Nightmare web event this week (though if you did not, I encourage you to click here to view the replay) and you better understand the grave implications of the PRC’s recent Order on the 10-Year Review. Our discussion clearly illustrated the challenges all users of the mail are experiencing right now. We also laid out the concrete steps we can take to forestall, ameliorate, reduce or manage the steep climb of mailing costs we are facing.

This truly needs a widespread industry response now; otherwise, 2021 will surely begin the death spiral for mail. It is stunning that officials in Washington have demonstrated such disregard for the realities of our operating businesses, seeking only more money from business mailers to sop up the rapidly-expanding costs for the benefit of the nation.

view the replay at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhCCZ6muo3M . Click Read More for additional key information

The industrywide response to the 10-Year Review will likely have to include these elements:

  1. litigation to halt or modify the damaging impact of the recent Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) order;
  2. aggressive, widespread constituent outreach to Congress seeking action on long-stalled reform to America’s postal system, and addressing unfunded mandates currently paid for by mailers;
  3. and building on recent media interest in the subject, and a targeted public relations and grassroots campaign to reinforce item 2 above so that all mailers, their suppliers, their employees and families are fully engaged (and enraged) over the sorry state of the US Postal Service.

The alternative is unfathomable: Not only will your postal costs rise 30% to 50% over the next five to 10 years, but you will not know about it with more than three months’ advance notice, making it virtually impossible to properly manage your business.

Obviously, this will take resources and a modicum of executive time.

Our Ask & Your Need
Donate generously to ACMA’s Postal Action Fund to fuel a strong pushback to this outrageous development. Given the magnitude of the situation, donations and activism are also vitally needed from both ACMA members and non-members. We have less than 30 days to challenge this in court. We must mount the GR and PR activities immediately. ACMA plans collaborative activities with other business mail associations but ACMA must have funding to play a leadership role in this effort to make sure that unique catalog issues are addressed.

Make no mistake that without the will and the means, you and everyone will be facing the beginning of the death spiral for mail. To be clear, ACMA does not currently have the ability to affect change without your strong support and follow through.

Your immediate step: (a) write a check to the ACMA war chest (again, click here or send us a note with your pledge and we’ll follow up) and (b) start building / strengthening your presence with your elected officials. (Whether you’re a member or not, I urge you to contact us for specifics on how best to do this.) Ask everyone else what they are doing to address this gigantic threat.

Otherwise, without strong action now, it’s a virtual guarantee that you will face multiple, compounding annual or semi-annual postal rate hikes that make 2007 look like a sideshow.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Hamilton Davison
President & Executive Director
American Catalog Mailers Association
hdavison@catalogmailers.org

Related Posts

Bass Pro Shops Completes Acquisition of Cabela’s

Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Incorporated announced they have successfully completed the transaction in which Bass Pro Shops acquired Cabela’s for $61.50 per share in cash, representing an aggregate transaction value of approximately $5.0 billion. As a result of the completion of this transaction, Cabela’s common stock will no longer be listed for trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The completion of this transaction formally brings together three of the nation's premier sporting brands: Bass Pro Shops, a leader in fishing; Cabela’s, a leader in hunting; and White River Marine Group, a leader in boating, which is part of Bass Pro Shops. The combined company will now offer expanded product line and geographic footprint, creating enhanced benefits for outdoor enthusiasts. Click Read More below for more of the story.

B&NE Steps Up Fight Against Counterfeiters

In another move to combat the spread of counterfeit textbooks, Cengage, Elsevier, McGraw-Hill Education, and Pearson announced an agreement with Barnes & Noble Education to implement the industry’s Anti-Counterfeit Best Practices. The best practices were developed earlier this year by the Educational Publishers Enforcement Group (EPEG) with the goal of assisting publishers and distributors looking to tamp down on the growing availability of counterfeit print textbooks. In agreeing to adhere to the best practices program, B&NE will verify the sources of its textbooks. It will also inspect inventory that has a high risk of being counterfeit, and prevent it from infecting the rest of its inventory. And, according to the agreement, when B&NE finds counterfeit books it will share information about the title and supplier with publishers. Click Read More below for more of the story.

Service Performance Consistently Strong Across All Mail Categories

FY23 second quarter service performance scores covering Jan. 1 through Jan. 27 included: *First-Class Mail: 91.8% of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of 0.9 percentage point performance from the fiscal first quarter. *Marketing Mail: 94.3% of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal first quarter. *Periodicals: 85.8% of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard an increase of 1.1 percentage points performance from the fiscal first quarter.
Back To Top
×Close search
Search