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| IMB Discounts Announced! |
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February 2009
Greetings!
The Wait is Over! - Or Is It?
The justification everyone was waiting for was
supposed to come about earlier this month when the
USPS published the rates for the May 2009 postage
changes. Did you read them? Here's a link to the
Federal Register posting: FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICE and here is the
new rate card:
MAY 2009 RATE
CARDThe bottom line on discounts for using IMB? Only .003 per piece for First Class Letters and .001 (could it be any lower?) for Standard Mail Letters. Plus, the discount wouldn't be applied until November 29th. Personally, I was disappointed. No, make that shocked. The Postal Service undoubtedly knew that mailers were waiting for discount information to justify the investment necessary to implement full service IMB. There had been plenty of delays as the USPS listened to mailers and software vendors when they explained the complexity involved. Remember that the original implementation date was to have been this past January! So I fully expected a blockbuster discount that would make converting to this new Postal Service technology a no-brainer. Now, I can't imagine any mailer that would go forward with an IMB conversion based solely on that small of a discount. Small to medium sized mailers would be especially hard-pressed to make a case for doing the work. Of course, there might be other IMB benefits that are worthwhile, regardless of the postage savings. Things like start-the-clock notification, address correction service, cleaner document appearance, and mailpiece tracking throughout the mail system.
Another Fly in the Ointment
But wait, before you put too much value on the tracking
functionality, you need to consider how that
information is acquired. Each time a mailpiece is
sorted, the mailer ID, mailpiece ID, and the date, time,
and location is recorded in the USPS Confirm
database. Getting access to this data requires a
subscription that entitles you to a certain number of
scans. Mailers can buy a subscription themselves, or
they can go through a third party.The larger third parties generally purchased the Platinum subscription that entitled them to an unlimited number of scans. Smaller companies went with the Gold subscription. Then these third parties priced their services accordingly so that mailers of various sizes could affordably get to their mailing data. A service bureau or presort house might have been planning on providing this type of service to mailers that couldn't afford subscriptions on their own. In May, the pricing for Confirm Service subscriptions changes. See page 37 of the rate card for the details. Most notably, Platinum subscribers who are not end- user mailers will see their annual subscription fee raised from the current $23,500 to $250,000! These Mail Agents include service bureaus, lettershops, mail preparers, tracking companies, or anyone else who acts on behalf of one or more mailers. In order to provide tracking information to mailers, these Mail Agents will be forced to pass the cost along to their customers. Others may decide to discontinue offering the service, thereby reducing competition. These actions will obviously affect the cost/benefit ratio of implementing IMB. My thanks to Mary Ann Bennett who brought this item to my attention.
Our Recommended Strategy
"So", you might ask, "What are you advising clients to
do now?"Well, I'm not giving up on IMB altogether. In some instances, the benefits to the mailer are worth the cost. But for a lot of mailers, I recommend that you do no more than acquire a Mailer ID number (there's no cost for this), and then take a wait-and-see approach. Unless you can justify converting now without the postage discount, there is little reason to switch from Postnet to IMB at this time. If you've already got a project started, then evaluate your options. It may make sense to continue. Give us a call and we can walk you through the choices. We'll continue to keep you updated as information develops. In the meantime, concentrate on streamline your workflow, tightening up quality control, implementing green initiatives, or controlling costs. These are all things we CAN help you with today. When the time comes to re-evaluate the IMB for your operation we'll be there to assist. Sincerely,  Mike Porter
Print/Mail Consultants
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