The U.S. Post Office is approaching bankruptcy. People have replaced writing letters with email; they are even paying their bills online. It has left the USPS at the precipice with no where to go. Phillip Herr, Director of Physical Infrastructures Issues for the U.S. Government Accountability Office, says the Postal Service is “headed off a cliff.” The USPS has failed to compete with the email boom, as well as competitors such as Fed Ex and UPS.
The answer just might be more junk mail for Phoenix residents. For years the post office has ridden the tide of junk mail increases which were paying the bills. The downturn in the economy slowed that down with total mail volume taking a dive of 20 percent from 2006 to 2010.The USPS delivers 40 percent of all mail around the world. Other countries have improved their bottom line by competing in email and privatizing postal service in locations like super markets. We’re years behind and can thank Congress once again for the lag.
My rough figures project that Phoenix has around 2.5 million individuals who shop by mail, making probably an average of five purchases each year. Considering the response to junk mail runs about 1.5 percent, you need a ton of mail to achieve profitable results. But would you settle for more if it kept the Postal Service afloat and you continued to receive your mail at least 5 times a week? As the saying goes, sometime you have to take the bad with the good.
Junk mailers could reduce the amount of unwanted mail to Phoenix households by at least 40 percent if they would invest more in computer predictive modeling. This targets those most likely to purchase their products or services. It would allow them to send more mail to those who want what they sell. I know, because I was a list broker and did modeling for my clients that worked. There are costs involved and most junk mailers aren’t willing to pay the price.
More on this in a later post.
Read more here.
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