{"id":2207,"date":"2011-09-27T17:29:57","date_gmt":"2011-09-27T21:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/?p=2207"},"modified":"2011-09-29T11:12:33","modified_gmt":"2011-09-29T15:12:33","slug":"how-junk-mail-is-helping-to-prop-up-the-postal-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2011\/09\/27\/how-junk-mail-is-helping-to-prop-up-the-postal-service\/","title":{"rendered":"How Junk Mail Is Helping To Prop Up The Postal Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s no doubt the US Postal Service<\/a> is struggling. It faces a multi-billion dollar deficit<\/a>, and is considering closing thousands of post offices<\/a>.\u00a0 For years, the USPS has been complaining that email is eating into its market share.\u00a0 And they’re probably right.\u00a0 After all, how many letters, cards, and packages do you<\/em> usually get in a week?\u00a0 What you’re more likely seeing in your mailbox is exactly what I’m seeing: mountains of ads, address labels, and catalogs you never asked for, and don’t want.<\/p>\n

All of this commercial detritus begs the question<\/a>: How much is junk mail propping up the US Postal Service?<\/p>\n

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Justin Sullivan \/ Getty Images<\/p>

You'd be surprised at how important junk mail is to the Postal Service.<\/p><\/div>\n

“We don’t use the ‘J<\/em>‘ word.”<\/p>\n

That’s what Tom Rizzo told me when I called and asked him the question.\u00a0 Rizzo’s the spokesman for the Postal Service’s Northern New England District, which serves Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.\u00a0 “Standard Mail or Advertising Mail is an extremely important part of our mail mix these days, since stamped mail started declining in 1998.”<\/p>\n

How important is it?\u00a0 Rizzo pulled up some numbers for me.\u00a0 “Total mail volume First-Class in 2010 was 78.2 billion pieces,” he said, while, “Standard Mail volume, [or] Advertising Mail, was 82.5 billion pieces.\u00a0 That comes to 160.7 billion pieces, and that’s very close to what our volume was last year.”<\/p>\n

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Rupert Ganzer \/ Flickr<\/p>

A world without junk mail might be less irritating in the short-term, but it could also mean a Postal Service in much worse shape<\/p><\/div>\n

So saying ad mail is, “an extremely important part of our mail mix” is something of an understatement.\u00a0 It’s more than half<\/em> our mail—<\/em>if you don’t count things like express delivery, media mail, parcel service, and some of the USPS’ more esoteric delivery options.\u00a0 (I unofficially call this mix “the regular mail,” because I don’t get packages, certified letters, and flat-rate boxes sent to me everyday.)<\/p>\n

Seeing the sheer numbers for Standard vs. First-Class mail, you could be forgiven for believing that basically, Fingerhut’s<\/a> all that’s keeping the Postal Service afloat.<\/p>\n

Rizzo said it’s not like that.<\/p>\n

“While Advertising Mail takes up a larger percentage of mail today, it takes on average three pieces of mail to make up the contribution of a single piece of First-Class mail.”<\/p>\n

But in 2010, the Postal Service found it was actually closer to a 1:2 ratio, with First-Class Mail bringing in $34 billion while mail termed “Advertising” brought in $17.3 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whether it’s 1:2 or 1:3, ratios like that are the kinds of talking points that show up on an agency fact sheet.\u00a0 They’re very, very hard to check.\u00a0 Given the average Rizzo cited, it’s clear the people who send us letters inviting us to change our insurance pay significantly less than the woman sending her grandson a graduation card.\u00a0 And this led to an interesting pair of conversations between Tom Rizzo and me, the highlights of which are presented here:<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>“So what is the standard rate for Standard mail?”<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>“It’s less than the First-Class rate.\u00a0 Those mailings are designed for mass mailings, so they’re more economical, and help drive the economy.\u00a0 Advertising mail comes in all shapes, sizes and forms.”<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>“So can you give me a range?”<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>“I want to stress once again…it’s very difficult to put a particular number on it because there are so many different categories of advertising mail.\u00a0 I can say…the most economical way of doing ad mail, it can be done with as little as 14.2 cents apiece, but that requires the customer to do more.”<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>“What would you get for 14.2 cents?”<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>“That could be an 8×10 sheet of paper folded in half.\u00a0 Roughly comparable to First Class, one ounce size.”<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>“So is that like the letters insurance companies send out?\u00a0 And what’s the difference between what say, they would pay versus a catalog, like FingerHut or even L.L. Bean?”<\/p>\n

A:\u00a0 <\/span>(Frustrated sigh) “I think somehow we’re not connecting.\u00a0 There are very, very specific requirements on classes of mail, rates of mail…There are manuals on this stuff, so it’s just very, very difficult to answer in a manner that’s easy to reduce down to a sentence.\u00a0 So I can’t give you a number.”<\/p>\n

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Justin Sullivan \/ Getty Images<\/p>

Besides letter carriers, mail sorters, and clerks, the USPS employs people who deal specifically with junk mail<\/p><\/div>\n

After another futile (and most likely annoying) attempt to get some sort of number from him beyond the 14.2 cents figure, Rizzo told me that the USPS actually employs a number of bulk mail specialists.\u00a0 And they’re probably the only people who could answer my specific questions.\u00a0 That’s right: There are people who navigate the labyrinthine regulations on what Publisher’s Clearinghouse <\/a>pays for postage versus the nuns who send crucifixes along with their donation letters.<\/p>\n

So I decided to take a look for myself.\u00a0 After all, Standard Mail rates are public information.<\/p>\n

And I quickly found out that Rizzo’s got a point: They’re pretty much incomprehensible to a layperson.\u00a0 If you go here<\/a>, you can actually see USPS rates for a variety of mailings, including Standard, or Ad Mail.\u00a0 And if you print the document, it’s 103 pages of pure arcana.\u00a0 Carrier routes vs. Automation.\u00a0 Saturation vs. Basic.\u00a0 AADC vs. Mixed AADC.\u00a0 Three-Digit vs. Five-Digit.\u00a0 Non-Profit vs. Commercial.\u00a0 Letters vs. Large Envelopes vs. Parcels.<\/p>\n

You’d probably have better luck translating hieroglyphics without the benefit of the Rosetta Stone.<\/p>\n

So what’s the takeaway from all of this?<\/p>\n