The Guide To America's Mailstream
Postal News, Vision, Information & Commentary
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Feature Article #1

Mail Means 8,300,000 Jobs Inside Our Borders

One of the largest industries in America is virtually unknown, yet it anchors more than 8,300,000 jobs and is related to the production of goods and services worth $1.2 trillion. (For details, see the 2008 Economic Jobs Study Final Report) Our Founders had vision: the postal system in this country is so important that it’s [...]

| May 25th, 2008 | Continued

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Feature Article #2

Ad Mail Hits Record in 2007, Still-Higher Growth Seen in 2008

New figures from advertising authority Robert Coen show that advertisers used mail at record levels in 2007. Mail spending rose 4.0 percent in 2007 to $60.998 billion, according to Coen, senior vice president, director of forecasting with Universal McCann, one of the largest advertising agencies in the world, In the December 2007 issue of his [...]

| May 23rd, 2008 | Continued

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Feature Article #3

Ecology: Why Every Major Green Group Uses Mail

Every major environmental and consumer organization uses the mailstream to raise money, gain members, promote its vision and distribute information. Larger groups send out tens of millions of items annually. When asked if Greenpeace was contributing to the nation’s environmental problems because the group uses direct mail, Peter Bahouth, a former Greenpeace executive director, once [...]

| May 23rd, 2008 | Continued

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Feature Article #4

The Truth About America’s Landfill Glut

For many years the media has published innumerable stories which worry that we are running out of landfill space. Such stories properly raise public concerns and have required virtually every community to look at landfill issues. But if it’s fair to raise questions about landfill capacity then it’s equally fair to provide some answers. Are [...]

| May 22nd, 2008 | Continued

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Feature Article #5

Mail, Trees & Common Sense

Many people are concerned with the preservation of forest land and with good reason: Forests are beautiful, they produce vast quantities of oxygen, they are home to innumerable animals and they are part of our heritage. There’s no question that mail is regarded as a paper-based product, and so it’s fair to ask: How does [...]

| May 19th, 2008 | Continued

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News & Commentary

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Would 40,000 Fewer Postal Jobs Be A Good Thing?

In Shreveport, LA, television station KSLA is reporting that as many as 40,000 postal employees could lose their jobs. “Lavelle Pepper with the post office in Shreveport says they too are feeling the affects of the same disease hitting the country… a struggling economy. ‘We employ about 685,000 people. If we do layoffs it would [...]

12Nov2008 | | 2 comments | Continued
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The Check Is Less Often In The Mail

The check is not in the mail — at least as not as often as it used to be. Figures from the Federal Reserve show that “the number of checks paid in the United States has fallen from 42 billion in 2001, to 37 billion in 2003, and to 30 billion in 2006.” Whoops. That’s [...]

10Nov2008 | | 2 comments | Continued
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One Daily Newspaper Goes Electronic — What About The Rest?

If you’re a Postal Service executive, union leader or letter carrier you might want to look closely at the latest announcement from the Christian Science Monitor: “The Christian Science Monitor,” says the paper, “plans major changes in April 2009 that are expected to make it the first newspaper with a national audience to shift from [...]

3Nov2008 | | 0 comments | Continued
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Should Mailers Expect Better News Coverage?

If The New York Times is to be believed, “MOST marketers readily concede it: getting rid of direct mail — or junk mail, as environmentalists and most recipients call it — would save a lot of trees. But they are not about to render bulk mailings obsolete.” (See: Direct Mail Tries to Go Green. No, [...]

25Jul2008 | | 0 comments | Continued
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What Is The Environmental Impact of Mail?

What is the environmental impact of mail? Given that mail is used by virtually all environmental, consumer and nonprofit groups, it should be fairly obvious that mail has a minimal environmental impact. That said, no product or service is without impact, so it makes sense to ask two questions: How does mail relate to green [...]

12Jul2008 | | 2 comments | Continued
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Does The Postal Service Need A Survival Vice President?

Commentary by D.E. Hanbery For the past few years the mail, and by implication the Postal Service, has been under attack. Although strategic and targeted responses have kept state do-not-mail laws from being passed or moving forward, the Postal Service and the people who depend upon the Postal Service, are losing the battle to win [...]

18Jun2008 | | 0 comments | Continued
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The Ad Mail Flood That Isn’t

The Winston-Salem Journal has helpfully provided “some numbers on the amount of junk mail the typical American receives each year.” (See: The Cost of Garbage Collection, June 9, 2008) According to the paper each individual will receive 560 pieces of ad mail each year; 10.8 pieces per week; and it notes that 42 percent of [...]

9Jun2008 | | 0 comments | Continued
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Should We Close Local Post Offices On Saturdays?

According to an editorial in the Observer-Reporter (Washington, PA), it’s time to end Saturday postal deliveries. “The recent increase in the cost of a first-class postage stamp from 41 cents to 42 cents was hardly surprising, compared to the increased in the cost of gasoline, food and just about everything else,” said the paper. “It [...]

8Jun2008 | | 32 comments | Continued
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Foreclosure Numbers & The Mailstream

The Mortgage Bankers Association has just issued the latest foreclosure figures for the first quarter of 2008. To be polite, they are awful. “The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process was 2.47 percent at the end of the first quarter, an increase of 43 basis points from the fourth quarter of 2007 and 119 [...]

5Jun2008 | | 0 comments | Continued
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Here’s An Envelope You Can Really Plant

I got something in the mail the other day that you don’t often see: An envelope suitable for planting. No kidding, this was an envelope sent by PowerOfEnvelopes.org and saturated with seeds. All you do is place the envelope in the ground, add water and Nature will take care of the rest. We sometimes forget [...]

5Jun2008 | | 1 comment | Continued
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