Starting January 24, 2021, you could pay more for metered first-class mail. If the Postal Regulatory Commission approves the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) proposed changes, the following increases will occur:
Product Current Prices Planned Prices
Letters additional ounce(s) 15 cents 20 cents
Letters (metered 1 oz.) 50 cents 51 cents
Domestic Postcards 35 cents 36 cents
Letters (1 oz.) 55 cents 55 cents (no change)
Flats (1 oz.) $1 $1 (no change)
The down side? No one likes price increases.
The up side? Direct mail marketing remains an affordable and effective marketing tool, AND first-class transactional mail offers a unique marketing opportunity for organizations that you may be overlooking.
According to the USPS, businesses use, on average, only 1 ounce of the 3.5 ounces allotted to the first class rate for these regular, business mailings.
That means that in the mail right now there are transactional mailings without marketing companions. Bills without brochures. Invoices without inserts. Renewal forms without rewards. Envelopes with room for customized offers, calls-to-action, and new-product previews.
Has your company done this? Is it doing this now?
Despite what the digital world would like you to think, printed invoices and statements are not a thing of the past. In its article, “Unlock the Marketing Power of First‑Class Mail® Service,” the USPS says, “Even when a transaction itself is digital, physical bills are still valued: Despite the prevalence of electronic transactions, 27% of households that pay their bills online still choose to actually receive them by mail. Furthermore, over half of customers prefer mail for sensitive or confidential account information—and because consumers expect bills, invoices and other statements to arrive, they tend to have very high open rates."
When you think about it, you may spend a little more on first-class postage next year, but if you take advantage of piggybacking marketing collateral with financial mailings, you could actually make money.
Happy mailing.