Word: postalization
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Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night will keep your mail carrier from making the daily rounds, promises the U.S. Postal Service's unofficial motto - but the economy might. With 9.5 billion fewer letters and packages delivered in the 2008 fiscal year compared with 2007, the biggest mail volume decline in history has contributed to the agency's $2.8 billion loss for the year. That partly explains why shipping prices will rise 5% this month (a bigger hike than all shipping increases in 2008), with a stamp price jump to follow in May. The decline could also...
...Mail deliveries, like hemlines, always drop in economic downturns. But the current pinch is worse than usual. One reason: the housing and financial sectors were once gold-star postal customers, but since their cash flows have slowed to a trickle, their direct-mail marketing campaigns have all but dried up. Mortgage direct mailings declined 57% from the first quarter of 2007 to the first quarter of 2008, according to the Chicago-based mail and advertising tracker Mintel Comperemedia. And credit card offers by mail sagged 28% from the third quarter of 2007 to the third quarter of 2008, dropping...
...Postal Service had already been limping along, taking heat on several fronts. One of its biggest threats is e-mail, which has made the art of letter-writing seem downright quaint and last year contributed to a nearly 10% drop in first-class mail (that's individual letters to you and me), the worst loss in any mail category. Demand for deliveries has been further beaten down by environmentalists, who consider snail mail a waste of paper. Meanwhile, spikes in oil prices in 2008 drove operating costs for the Postal Service's fleet - which is 220,000 vehicles strong - through...
...unwanted mail with a prepaid return envelope (so long as it is not from a charity), I stuff that envelope as full as I can with junk from a different source and put it back in the mail. This does not relieve the real problem, but it gives the postal service much-needed business. Steve Block, Dunnellon, Florida
...seems like a lot of green, ProQuo.com is the most comprehensive free service. Type in your name and address, and the site lets you opt out of credit-card solicitations, catalogs, Valpak coupons, sweepstakes announcements and other postal plaque. In addition to eliminating unwanted mail, the company plans to generate ad revenue by letting consumers specify the kind of offers they actually want to receive. What a novel concept...