I’m repeatedly hearing from catalogers that co-mailing is become a standard practice in the industry because it is one of the few ways that they can address escalating costs.

Now comes word from Quebecor World Inc. that seems to back up the notion that co-mailing is becoming more widespread. The printing company recently said that it co-mailed more than 1.1 billion catalogs and periodicals in the US within a recent 12-month period. This compares with the 65 million books Quebecor co-mailed 13 years ago when it first started offering co-mailing as an option.

Co-mailing combines individual mailings from different companies into one mailing, thereby reducing postage costs.

Earlier this year, Quebecor World Logistics became the first in the industry to offer mixed class co-mail pools to publishers and catalogers, the demand for which has since tripled in volume. As a result, Quebecor World recently said it would open a new offline co-mail facility in New Jersey.

I just stumbled across a handy media kit put together by the Association of Postal Commerce (PostCom) for any mailers that are concerned about do-not-mail bills in their area. The kit includes facts and links to information about some of the misinformation around paper and postal use.

Most inspiring is the variety of sample letters that mailers can use to communicate with nonprofits, the media and their legislative representatives.

Of course, underpinning any progress in this movement is mailers’ actual commitment to the environment. The PostCom materials claim: “The volume of material landfilled amounted to 138.2 million tons in 2006 — that’s less than the volume of MSW landfilled in 1990 when the country had 50 million fewer people.”

If mailers expect to use these and other positive facts in letters to voters and Congressmen, they also must ensure that this positive progress in reducing negative environmental impact continues.

The US Postal Service is behind a new series of direct-to-internet webisodes called “Mark of the Eagle.” The first episode (which stars actual postal employees) was posted to YouTube earlier this month.

In the episode, a shredder, an Internet cord and a copy machine, among other office equipment, attack the employees of a company called Middleman Industries.

According to a USPS press release, the webisodes are part of a campaign challenging customers to “take a new look” at Priority Mail, Express Mail and ground packages as “economical and dependable delivery options.”

The US Senate has confirmed President George W. Bush’s nomination of Nanci Langley as a commissioner of the Postal Regulatory Commission. President Bush nominated Langley for the position in February. After Langley is sworn in, she will serve the remainder of a six-year term, which will expire on November 22, 2012. Langley is currently the director of the office of public affairs and government relations at the PRC.

While the US consumer watches gas prices rise, there may be a positive spin for the cataloger and other direct marketers who save consumers a shopping trip. Bloomberg reports that petroleum gasoline futures are at  $3.40 per gallon today and I’ve seen several reports that gas averages $4 a gallon at the pump.

Here’s some math: The average American commuter driving a sedan at 20 miles per gallon would use 1.36 gallons per 1-hour round trip to the mall.  At $4.00 per gallon, that’s a $5.44 savings. If you’re company’s shipping fees are lower than that, you’ve got some feel good savings to pass on to the customer.

But before you start rewriting all of your promotional copy, consider the true nature of costs and benefits. The carbon offsets and increased prices for delivery of products to individual homes will still have an environmental impact. In addition, according to a recent study by Connected Nation, it takes 50 orders that save the consumer an hour of driving, to make 1 cent of carbon offsets for each individual. Thanks to multiplication, this can eventually total to dollars of change.

As serendipity would have it, the day after writing this post about the need for more industry people to speak up in defense of direct mail, I attended ALC’s For Brokers Only luncheon (a delightful event with fantastic food, great company and a worryingly close encounter with the sparkliest ballroom dancers I ever saw) and heard Donn Rappaport, CEO of ALC as well as this year’s DMA chairman, talk about this very subject.

During his speech, Rappaport revealed that the DMA has corralled a bunch of “celebrity” spokespeople – high-profile retail CEOs and the like – to help educate consumers why a do-not-mail bill will be harmful, and to put some of the environment facts and figures into perspective. This is a vital effort, as proved in our DMNews/Pitney Bowes survey on Direct Mail and the Environment (pdf) last December, which revealed that 48.4% of the consumers we polled thought that advertising mail accounted for 53% of total municipal waste. (If I were the type to use exclamation points, I would have added one there. It’s a shocking figure.)

More details of the DMA’s campaigns will be forthcoming. But it’s refreshing to hear the likes of Rappaport acknowledge that perhaps the DMA hasn’t been as proactive as it could be on this matter, and that its leadership cannot do this alone.

A worthy Des Moines Register op-ed on why banning “junk mail” will be bad for consumers can be found here, flagged up by the Direct Marketing Association in today’s 3-D e-mail blast.

I’m not sure if this article was something retired postmaster Jane Littrel simply wrote through real concern for the issue, or if it was also part of an orchestrated effort by pro-mail parties – either way, the DM industry needs more of these concerned parties to help consumers understand the big picture of what would happen if advertising mail were to be restricted or curtailed altogether.

While the DMA’s John Greco has been busy of late, having letters published in outlets from Advertising Age (sub req’d.) to The Wall Street Journal recently, the subjects he is covering range from green marketing to Internet sales tax to, yes the do-not-mail legislation. As admirable as his efforts are, his voice alone is going to stretch thin if unamplified. Op-eds like Littrel’s help at the local, grassroots level. Let us know if you see other examples.

In preparation for the May 12 pricing change, the US Postal service is now selling denominated 42-cent stamps in coils of 100, 3,000, and 10,000. The coils can be purchased at US Post Offices and online at shop.usps.com.

According to the USPS, this is the “first time ever” denominated stamp coils have been sold prior to a pricing change.

As I checked out the booths at the Direct Marketing Association’s Insert Media Day last week with my colleagues Cara and Sharon, the three of us pounced on the insert samples on each table. “This is what we’re talking about!” we kept saying to each other, as we once again wondered aloud why we don’t have more insert specialists and marketers sending us the fruits of their labor. All the great, varied inserts laid out in front of us was a tantalizing taste of work we’d love to see more of.

So let this be a call to action: We know there’s some great work out there, whether it’s a one-off statement insert or the fruits of a sophisticated, long-term marketing partnership with a cataloger. We want to see it! While we of course would like to be able to write about what we receive, we’re happy to (grudgingly) keep things just to ourselves if you request it. Why do we want to see work we can’t write about? It helps us see some of the trends in creative and offers that are going on.

Our mailing address is 114 W. 26th St. New York, NY 10001. Make our day, and send inserts our way!

Since joining DMNews in November, I’ve already worked on two of our “Essential Guide” supplements – and quickly realized what a great resource they are in terms of learning about the industry, whether you’re been in the direct marketing business for years or are just getting started. With dozens of top industry experts contributing to various sector topics (our Essential Guide to Lists, Databases and Data Management ran in our 1/28  issue and the Essential Guide to Multichannel Retail will be in our 2/25 issue), I don’t believe you can read through an entire Essential Guide and not learn a tremendous amount.
 
Right now I’m in the thick of gathering submissions for DMDeliver, or the Essential Guide to Direct Mail, which will run in our 3/10 issue. We already have experts from all around the worlds of direct mail, postal and printing/production preparing contributions to the supplement – but of course I’m looking for more! With so many important industry issues on the table, from changing postal regulations and mail legislation to advances in printing technologies and data services, it’s more important than ever to share your opinions and best practices. Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions about how to be a part of this exciting issue.