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Reliability, Convenience, Value
Price changes for shipping services and mailing services coming May 12
Today, you’ll pay the same price for every Express Mail or Priority Mail package whether you ship one or 1 million. On May 12, that changes when the Postal Service launches a new pricing structure for its expedited mail products.
 Except for the flat-rate envelope, Express Mail will move to a zone-based pricing system, which is what the rest of the industry uses. Closer destinations — where most overnight shipping happens — will see lower prices. Express Mail prices will begin at $12.60 for overnight service.
There also will be a 3 percent price reduction for online users and Express Mail Corporate Account holders. Volume users also will get price incentives. Customers who mail a minimum of 125 pieces per quarter — about two pieces per day — are eligible for an additional 2 percent rebate. Additional reductions of up to 7 percent are available for shippers who send as few as 15 pieces per day, on average. A customer can combine that with the commercial base price reduction to get as much as 10 percent off the retail price of Express Mail.
Priority Mail, our two- to three-day expedited shipping service, will offer price reductions ranging from 1 percent to 11 percent to customers who use electronic postage. Priority Mail starts at $4.75 for commercial customers and $4.80 at retail.
In addition to these expedited services, pricing also will be adjusted for ground services. Parcel Select — our “last mile” delivery to every door — will feature pricing and volume incentives for large- and medium-size shippers. Parcel Return Service will move to weight-based pricing, resulting in significant price reductions for many lighter packages.
And don’t forget the global marketplace. Price incentives already exist for our international products when customers go online for Priority Mail International, Express Mail International and Global Express Guaranteed.
Prices for mailing services — Standard Mail, Periodicals, Package Services (including single-piece Parcel Post) and Extra Services — also change May 12. The Postal Regulatory Commission reviewed the new pricing for both mailing services and shipping services and verified that our prices are consistent with the Postal Law of 2006.
The new prices are available at usps.com/prices.
Sorting It Out For You
Mail sorting equipment will be enhanced to better serve customers
New technology is coming that will postmark letters faster and sort them smarter.
The Postal Service Board of Governors approved funding for 550 Advanced Facer Canceler System (AFCS) machines to replace existing sorters operating with 1980s technology.
Today’s AFCS machine locates a stamp’s phosphorescent ink and uses it to position the letter for postmarking on the upper right corner of the envelope. It then sends the letter to one of seven bins for additional sorting. The new AFCS will be 15 percent faster, apply barcodes and process broader-sized letters before sorting them to one of 12 destination bins. The additional bins will reduce downstream processing needs for about 20 percent of the mail.
The new equipment, which also is more energy efficient, will be deployed between May 2010 and July 2011.
The Board also approved funding to purchase 400 computer systems to replace the existing National Directory Support System (NDSS) and Integrated Data System (IDS). The Postal Service’s 13,000 automated sorting machines process 212 billion letters, large envelopes and packages annually. Key to these operations is providing information to the machines to enable proper mail sorting and retrieving information from the machines about their operations.
NDSS contains the nation’s 148 million addresses and downloads ZIP Code directories to more than 13,000 letter, flat and parcel sorting machines weekly. IDS collects and distributes operational and management data to help USPS achieve optimum machine performance. It also provides valuable mail sorting information that’s shared with business customers.
Deployment of new IDS-NDSS computer systems begins in January 2009.
Short-Distance Learning
Norman, OK, trainers come to Pittsburgh to present EMCM course
If you’re setting your GPS, the distance between Pittsburgh, PA, and Norman, OK, is about 1,125 miles. Members of the Greater Pittsburgh PCC were faced with traveling that distance if they wanted to take the Executive Mail Center Manager (EMCM) course offered at the Postal Service’s Business Mail Academy.
Or, the training could just come to Pittsburgh.
 That solution worked out just fine for 18 recent EMCM graduates. The Greater Pittsburgh PCC arranged for two Business Mail Academy instructors to travel from Norman to Pittsburgh to present the EMCM course and certification. Fourteen local PCC members were joined by four Erie, PA, PCC members (shown in picture, with instructors).
“We make a concerted effort to provide our PCC members with the best training available, and at the same time, respect their budgets and busy schedules,” says Jane Rahenkamp, USPS marketing manager in Pittsburgh.
The EMCM course is the largest certification program in the mailing industry. The four-day course covers finances, mail center quality, safety and security, technology, employee management, operations management, planning and policy making, and sales and marketing.
Jim Cooney of Thomas Lee Printing in Erie appreciated the new ideas presented and the greater insight into postal operations. “Things can get stale after a while. You need exposure to new ways of thinking,” Cooney says. “I can take what I’ve learned back home and improve communications throughout my company and with the Postal Service.”
For 12 years, Ellen Allen has managed the mailing and printing operations for Allegheny County. She agreed that the training opens new ways of building a better relationship with the Postal Service. “This is exactly what I was looking for. The certification component was added incentive for me to sign up,” Allen says.
For information on the EMCM program, go to usps.com/pcc and click on Certification Training Programs.
WHAT'S UP
Anticipation
It’s just a month away. The National Postal Forum is the premier educational event and tradeshow for mailing professionals. Attend the NPF May 18-21 in Anaheim, CA, to get a complete education in the “Business of Mail.” If your business or profession has anything to do with using mail, or any of the products and services available through the Postal Service, the NPF is the place to be. For more information and to register, visit npf.org.
Workshops in the PCC Leadership Track are shaping up to be the best ever. A schedule is available at npf.org. Click the Education Sessions link and then Workshops. These sessions will give you fresh ideas that you can put to immediate use in your business, and help you get a fast start to earning your 2008 PCC Leadership Certificate.
Free And Green
 A new pilot program allows customers to recycle small electronics and inkjet cartridges by mailing them free of charge.
The “Mail Back” program makes it easier for customers to discard used or obsolete small electronics in an environmentally responsible way.
Customers use free, postage-paid envelopes found in 1,500 Post Offices to mail back inkjet cartridges, PDAs, Blackberries, digital cameras, iPods and MP3 players.
Postage is paid for by Clover Technologies Group, a nationally recognized company that recycles, remanufactures and remarkets inkjet cartridges, laser cartridges and small electronics.
The pilot is set for 10 areas across the country, including Washington, DC, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Diego.
Mail Works
In a slumping economy, mail helps you get the most out of your marketing dollars.
 “Mail works — it’s a targeted, quality connection,” Anita Bizzotto, chief marketing officer and executive vice president of the Postal Service, told attendees at the mailer education day sponsored jointly by the Hampton Roads and Central Virginia PCCs.
“Customers respond to mail, they read mail and it drives Internet purchases,” she said. “Customers getting a catalog or mailpiece are twice as likely to buy and less likely to comparison shop — and they spend about two-and-a-half times as much money.”
Bizzotto was the featured speaker at the March 13 event in Williamsburg, VA. More than 200 mailing industry professionals attended education sessions on the Intelligent Mail barcode, shape-based pricing, Move Update and other topics. More than two dozen mail services and equipment vendors set up displays.
Intelligent Mail
Mailers who attended any of the four Intelligent Mail symposiums last month heard how Intelligent Mail drives improvements in service and efficiency and adds value to mail. “It will help you find your needle in our haystack,” postal officials told attendees at symposiums in Las Vegas, Chicago, New York and Atlanta. If you were unable to attend, go to the National PCC website usps.com/pcc or the Rapid Information Bulletin Board System at ribbs.usps.gov and under RIBBS Links, click Intelligent Mail Symposium Presentations March 2008.
FYI …
Did you know your PCC administrator can enter local events directly onto the National PCC page?
SPOTLIGHT ON SUCCESS
PCC Ambassador Promotes Power Of Partnership
More than three decades ago, Ruthie Irene Ewers started a direct mail marketing company from the kitchen table in her Dallas, TX, home. She recognized early on the power of partnership — she was a founding member of the Dallas PCC — and remains a strong advocate of the councils in her current role as “PCC Ambassador” on the National PCC Advisory Committee (PCCAC).
 “The PCC is the best link between the Postal Service and its customers,” Ewers says. “In many cases, this is the only way some postal customers get a chance to be one-on-one with their postal officials. With everything getting so automated and complicated, it’s essential to keep the lines of communication open.”
Most important to PCC members is keeping up with postal technology and exchanging ideas with other members of the mailing community, she says.
“To grow a PCC it must start at the top with postal management and a great board,” according to Ewers. “Be aware of your PCC’s needs. Ask your membership what they want. Do surveys. You must always answer the question, ‘What’s in it for me?’”
Ewers was the first national co-chair of the PCC advisory board appointed by Postmaster General Marvin Runyon. She sold her business 10 years ago and retired. Or so she thought. For the past three years, she’s been back at the PCCAC, traveling across the nation, “trying to put new life into PCCs that need a spark.”
KEEPING POSTED
2008
- Fairfield County Connecticut Postal Customer Council joins the Connecticut Business and Industry Association to host a workshop — “Green Means Grow.” The April 17 event in Fairfield will feature speakers and vendor exhibits exploring the greening of the mailing industry. Contact Kathy Perez at 203-332-5341 or via e-mail at kathy.m.perez@usps.gov for information.
- The National Postal Forum is May 18-21 in Anaheim, CA. Go to the NPF website at npf.org.
INFO@USPS
Your Links To Mailing Resources
U.S. Postal Service: usps.com
National PCC Network: usps.com/pcc
Rapid Information Bulletin Board System: ribbs.usps.gov
Questions? Comments? Send an e-mail to pccinsider@usps.gov
Sign up for PCC Insider at usps.com/pcc, select "PCC Insider Registration"
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