Print/Mail Consultants occasionally distributes thoughts and ideas about topics of interest to professionals in the document production and distribution business. Recently, DM News magazine published the results of a consumer survey conducted by the magazine and Pitney Bowes. The survey was designed to measure American consumer attitudes toward direct mail and the environment. You can read the article here: http://www.dmnews.com/DMNe ws-debuts-first-DMNewsPitney-Bowes- survey/article/99883/

Of course not everyone needs to be a print/mail expert. But it is important that the recipients of the mail you produce be aware of the steps that your company is taking to lessen the negative environmental impact. Mailers are not getting credit for what they've already done. It wouldn't hurt to make sure that your own executives are also aware, since they are the ones most likely to be in a position of having to respond to consumer concerns.

Here are some highlights from the survey that I found interesting:

48% of consumers thought that advertising mail accounted for more than half of the country's municipal waste. The real number, according to the EPA, is more like 2%.

Consumers ranked the delivery of 10-11 pieces of advertising mail a year as third in a list of seven activities that result in the release of carbon dioxide into the air. Only driving a car 1000 miles in a month and generating the electricity to run a 1992 - vintage refrigerator for a year were ranked higher by the respondents! According to the article, generating the energy required to run a TV/DVD/Cable box emits 7 times more carbon dioxide in a year than delivering those 10-11 mail pieces. Less than 2% of consumers chose the video gear as the top offender. The mail delivery actually had the lowest impact of the seven choices.

68% said they would have a higher opinion of direct mailers if only they would use recycled paper. This is a practice that has been in use by most mailers for quite a few years. I'd be surprised if your shop didn't already use paper and envelopes with recycled content today.

70% of the respondents said their opinion of direct mail would improve if undeliverable mail were kept to a minimum. Again, this is something that most mailers have been working to achieve for years.

81% said that the convenience of receiving direct mail wasn't worth the environmental impact. Not surprising, considering their massively inaccurate estimates of the mail's effect on the environment.

Even though there are a lot of negative perceptions by the consumers, their responses to other questions revealed that they continue to respond to direct mail. Significant percentages of the respondents have engaged with a business or non-profit for the first time or renewed their relationships with businesses as a result of a mailing. And fully 89% said they go through the mail daily.

The receipt of mail is clearly important to these consumers. Analysts of the survey feel that consumers would like more choice in the mail they receive. Even though only about 15% of the survey respondents have registered with the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service, the DMA believes that allowing the consumers to be more selective about what they want to receive - and how often - will make it more valuable to consumers and more of them will use it. Of course, the DMA and its members will have to promote the use of the Mail Preference Service better. 66% of the survey respondents said they had never heard of it.

So what do we do as printing and mailing professionals? Be proactive in your approach. Don't wait for an uprising among your environmentally - conscious customers or for some anxious executive to start making decisions for you. Look for ways that you can reduce the environmental impact your mail is making and get the word out, both internally and externally. Not only will you improve your company's image and do your part for our environment, you may find out that in the process, you have improved the product or lowered costs.

Sincerely,