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Analysis of the Proposed USPS Postage Increase for 2011

From a bird’s eye view, the 2011 increases don’t appear too severe and average well within the USPS’s price cap as legislated by the Postal Enhancement and Accountability Act of 2006. As a result, we see no apparent reason why these rates would not be approved by the PRC and are scheduled to go in to effect on April 17, 2011.

However, drilling down into the proposed rates revealed a few surprises – Good & Bad:

The Good:

Contrary to last year’s rumors that non-profits would be hit the hardest, they did surprisingly well with no increase whatsoever for automated mail. In fact, the highest  sortation level (Mixed AADC) actually decreased by a little over ½ of 1 percent.

Automated Flats, both First Class and Standard, also did surprisingly well with an average increase for both classes of mail of less than 2 tenths of 1 percent.

While the postage on presorted standard automated letter-size mail (the majority of all business advertising mail) did increase, the increase was relatively small at 1.6 to 1.7 percent as compared to some of the other mail categories.

The Bad:

Not surprisingly, non-automated, non-machinable prices for standard and non-profit letter-sized pieces received the highest increases at 15 to 20 percent.

By not increasing the price of a 44-cent first class letter as sent by a typical American consumer, the entire burden of this year’s postage increase will shift to the commercial business sector.

Flats – in order to meet the legislated annual price cap, many categories actually decreased in price to offset other increases in excess of the price limitation.  However, from a “volume” standpoint of an average mail job, those decreases occur at sort levels that would normally contain only a small percentage of the overall mail job volume (often called “residual mail”). The resulting impact may cause total final postage figures in excess of the legislated cap percentage while still allowing the USPS to be in compliance with the regulation.

Below is the line-by-line analysis of the most (but not all) of the commonly used postal rate categories. For more information, or for categories not listed here, you can go to www.USPS.com/prices and click on the link “New Prices For Mailing Services April 17, 2011”.  

Increased demand and higher volume for our digital 4-color variable-image, variable-data printing, mailing & fulfillment projects has lead us to increase our IT & computing capacity.

We have replaced our IT Network servers with top-of-the-line 64-bit, Quad Four lightening-fast processors to speed up data flow and large data file manipulation.

We have upgraded our XMPie (variable image and art engine software) desktop versions to the much faster and more efficient XMPie-Server version.

These additions now allow us to produce many more 4-color variable-image, variable data booklets, letters, postcards and brochures at a much faster rate than ever before!

Today, we just added our 11th digital production press. Out 3rd Xerox DocuColor printer. This one, called the “8002″ is the latest and most technologically advanced 80 page per minute digital color production press available today. It’s new chemically-produced toner eliminates the usual shiny or glossy look that typically comes from digital color printers. The finish on this printer makes it very hard to tell if the image was digitally produced, or, off-set printed.

The new Xerox 8002 also comes with a new enhancement called the “ACQS” (Automated Color Quality System). This new advancement uses an in-line spectrophotometer to compare each image being produced to the original image. If it finds any variation in color, it re-adjusts the CMYK percentages, on the fly,  to compensate for the variance.  This insures exact color accuracy from the 1st print to the last, regardless of print quantity. 

We have now installed multiple in-line high-speed tabbers from Kirk-Rudy that makes it possible for us to inkjet addressee information and place multiple tabs on any side of a booklet mail piece all in one high-speed pass !

The new equipment acquisition not only puts us in compliance with the new US Postal Service regulations, but, gives us a distinct advantage over other mailers who must perform multiple ink jet and tabbing passes to accomplish the same result. This means we are able to process more jobs much quicker than our competitors!

Fulfillment Partners – Millennium Marketing Group doubles print capacity on its high-speed

ink jets. With 12 print heads distributed over 4 banks, we now have the ability to ink jet

variable information on an area of 6” x 13.5”in a single pass.

Have you ever had an application where you needed to insert multiple personalized, targeted documents into an envelope? These types of applications are normally used in a “fulfillment” environment.

Let’s suppose, for a moment, that your application entailed responding to requests

from potential tourists about what types of activities exist in and around the Orlando area.  

Inquiry number 1 needed to know about area golf courses and any golfing discounts that can be taken advantage of. Inquiry number 2 was interested in theme parks and Inquiry number 3 needed to know about area fishing charters.

Traditionally, these three inquiries would be fulfilled by pulling pre-printed brochures and coupons relative to their area of interest , inserting them into an envelope, addressing the envelope and mailing it back to the potential visitor. Along with the brochures and coupons, you would also want to insert some type of personalized letter thanking them for their inquiry along with a strong appeal to entice them to come and stay here in Orlando.

Ok, so, inquiry number 1 gets a personalized letter, 6 brochures (1 for each golf course in the area), some greens fees coupons from a couple of the courses, a couple of discount coupons for motels and resorts that are near the courses, and maybe a coupon for golf equipment from one of the equipment manufacturers all inserted into an envelope.

Inquiry number 2 gets a personalized letter, along with brochures and coupons relative to theme parks, while, inquiry number 3’s package would be relative to area fishing charters, professional fishing guides, discount coupons from bait and tackle shops, and so on.

Along with the tedious work of hand-inserting all the correct individual pre-printed brochures and coupons, one also has to keep up with the on-hand quantity of each brochure and coupon you have left in inventory so you know when to reorder the printed material.

The new “envelope” streamlines, simplifies, and automates the entire process by printing an on-demand facsimile of each of those brochures, personalized letters and coupons all in one pass and then binding them into a “booklet” that is then wafer-sealed and mailed immediately. No inventory to keep up with, no hand intervention, and no possibility of inserting the wrong information into the wrong envelope.

The inquiring tourist perceives a higher value by receiving a professional looking, fully personalized, and fully targeted booklet containing all the exact information requested.

It’s also less expensive, overall, to produce these “new envelopes”.  Since all the pieces are printed “on-demand” from blank paper, you have no money tied up in inventory. You don’t pay for for warehouse storage and also don’t waste money by throwing away and re-printing existing inventory due to current changes that render the original brochures or coupons obsolete (new theme park rides, changes in rates, etc).

These printed-on-demand, digital, variable image, variable data booklets are being used more and more each day for everything from insurance enrollment kits, 401-k investment fund reports, stock and investment portfolios, to travel itineraries and resort reservation confirmations. It’s the wave of the future, the “New Envelope” and, it’s available right now at Fulfillment Partners – Millennium Marketing Group! Call today for more information.

Fulfillment Partners – Millennium Marketing Group’s vast array of folders and bindery equipment is capable of performing many complicated finishing tasks. Paper can be cut, trimmed, folded, nested, scored or perforated to produce a beautifully finished product. Unlike most print and mail facilities, we have the ability to secure open-end self-mailers during the folding process by laying down tiny spots of glue prior to the mail piece passing through the final pressure roller.

On a daily basis, Fulfillment Partners – Millennium Marketing Group receives data generated by reservations being made at any one of the area’s largest resorts. Within 24 hours, that information is used to produce and mail a totally personalized confirmation reflecting which resort you are staying at, how many guests, names and ages of each guest, arrival and departure dates, room rates for each night of your stay, special activities booked, and any detailed information about the specific resort, activity, or special needs of any of the guests.

Whether it’s keying membership applications from hand written forms, updating information about a member, changing addresses, or mailing out newsletters and communications, Fulfillment Partners – Millennium Marketing Group has been maintaining club memberships for some of Florida’s largest corporations for over 10 years. Our industry experience and tools allows us to deliver the very best in club membership administration.

Strategic alliances with several mailing list vendors allow the list department at Fulfillment Partners – Millennium Marketing Group to acquire the best possible mailing list for your project at the best possible price. Our data entry department can also key and compile lists from applications and entry forms. Our information technology department can scrub, securely store and process all your lists for you.

Whether it’s one order at a time or thousands of orders, Fulfillment Partners – Millennium Marketing Group has been performing Pick & Pack fulfillment for over 30 years.

Personalizing your communications always gives you an edge over others who simply print and mail a generic mail piece. At Fulfillment Partners – Millennium Marketing Group, your letters can be personalized throughout the entire text, not just at the salutation line.

Printing only what you need, when you need it allows your brochures, flyers and sales collateral to always remain current – never obsolete. Using Fulfillment Partners, Inc – Millennium Marketing Group for all your 4-color digital print-on-demand needs not only saves you money, but also lets you “go green” and become eco-friendly by not printing large amounts of material that may become obsolete and thrown away before it is used up.

4-color variable imaging gives you the ability to change pictures, graphics and text on one run during the color laser printing process. Each sheet of paper that is printed can contain a unique picture, one right after the other. This allows you to create 1:1 communications that are personalized to each recipient which can increase your response rates by as much as 500%. Fulfillment Partners, Inc – Millennium Marketing Group uses several different 4-color variable image production presses, giving them more flexibility in paper sizes and stocks.