Sometimes it’s hard to get a straight answer. One such occasion was at the recent meeting of the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee. In a session that included a presentation about USPS service performance, the presenter showed charts (like the one above) that, among other data, compared service in late September 2025 to what it was a year earlier. After looking…
Read MoreYear: 2025
Understanding the Need for Training: Management and Employee Development
Workshops begin October 14, 2025. Registration is open. Despite the value of such a program, employee development is sometimes well down the to-do list of commercial mail producers. To help company executives better understand why developing future managers is a wise practice, and a good investment, please consider these points: In short, for small businesses – where resources are tight…
Read MoreLack of Postmark Could Impact Votes
Traditionally, a postmark would provide evidence of timely mailing, and would be critical to ensuring mailed-in ballots are accepted by election officials. However, both voters and the agencies that oversee elections are concerned that ongoing Postal Service operational changes may eliminate postmarks or end their relevance to when a ballot was mailed. For example, as reported September 26 by the…
Read MoreService Measurement Proposal Earns Our Award – Commentary
In the July 14 issue of Mailers Hub News we initiated an award – the bull trophy – that would be given to the Postal Service when it makes an announcement that is no more than transparent spin, or issues a proposal that is egregiously self-serving, and thus worthy of being equated to what the trophy animal produces. We’re making…
Read MoreInsufficient Response
The Postal Service’s attitude toward the Postal Regulatory Commission became more confrontational and dismissive under the tenure of former postmaster general Louis DeJoy, and apparently continues to be so even now that he’s gone. Background Docket SS2022-1, Special Study on Issues Related to Flats Operations, was opened on July 14, 2022, to fulfill a requirement of the Postal Service Reform…
Read MoreTurning Back Time – Commentary
Deep in an appropriations bill passed by the 52nd Congress on March 3, 1893, was the clause “For free-delivery service, including existing experimental free-delivery offices, eleven million two hundred and fifty-four thousand nine hundred dollars, of which the sum of ten thousand dollars shall be applied under the direction of the Postmaster-General to experimental free-delivery in rural communities other than…
Read MoreUSPS Proposes to Define the Postmark
In “Postmarks and Postal Possession,” a proposed rule published in the August 12 Federal Register, the Postal Service sought to establish a distinction between the date shown on a postmark and when the USPS was actually in possession of a mailpiece. After a lengthy exposition about the history of postmarks and how the Postal Service has applied them, the crux…
Read MoreCongressional Attention to the USPS Continues
After five years of contentious relations with former postmaster general Louis DeJoy, many in Congress may see the arrival of his successor as an opportunity for fresh thinking at L’Enfant Plaza and different perspectives on some of the issues that nettled Congress the most. With memories of last December’s confrontations at House and Senate hearings still fresh in their minds,…
Read MoreBeyond the Stamp: How USPS Promotions Supercharge Direct Mail
USPS promotions have become a powerful tool for marketers looking to stretch their budgets and enhance campaign performance, but their value goes well beyond postage discounts. On August 7, Kate Sanders, Omnichannel Product Development Manager at BCC Software, will lead a webinar that dives into how these programs can be leveraged to drive higher engagement, increase impressions, and deliver stronger…
Read MoreDisintermediation – Commentary
It’s hardly a report for the evening news, but Sioux Falls (SD) station KSFY reported July 14 that Lewis Drug and Hy-Vee stores would no longer be able to “sell postage or mail packages” for the USPS by the end of September. When asked for comment, a USPS representative stated only that “the Postal Service determined that nearby postal facilities…
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