Big changes went into effect on January 1st that could seriously hamper your ability to raise funds through the mail in 2012.
Insufficient Postage: What’s Up At The Post Office?
The sinking ship that is our United States Postal Service is closing half of its processing centers in the U.S. and is eying more than 1,900 post offices for elimination. This is more than belt tightening in reaction to such things as the rise of email and the recession. These are serious, draconian cuts that will have a dramatic effect on how mail is delivered in this country once they are put into full effect.
Guaranteed Delivery: Mailbags Full Of Frustration
In order to deal with a 50% cut to its mail processing capacity, USPS will now take even longer to deliver your fundraising letters if mailed at the non-profit rate Currently, half of all mail takes two stops to get delivered from any point in the system to the average home. At each stop, USPS can set aside non-profit mail while it processes higher priority mail, like first-class and first-class presort. Until now, postal regulations stated that non-profit mail could be held for up to 3 days at each stop. Until now, USPS protocol allowed for non-profit mail to be held for up to 3 days at each location. Prudent mailers would plan on average of 3 stops and allow for nine total days of mail time when calculating when a mass mailing would reach consumers.
As of January 1st, my sources tell me that the USPS is extending the hold time per stop to five days. That means mailers are going to have to allow 15 days for a mailing to reach donors and begin to produce results. Oh, and one more thing, there’s no more Saturday delivery. So a letter reaching a local post office on Friday won’t hit the mailbox until the following Monday. And once more post offices are closed, the problem will get even worse, possibly causing even more delays.
For now, if your printer takes two weeks to print, assemble and sort your project, you are now facing a lead time from copy to delivery of at least six weeks!
Return To Sender: What Does This Mean To Me?
Reactionary fundraisers who take a “let’s just see how it goes” approach before deciding on the use of direct mail have always been at a disadvantage. Careful planning of all donor communications maximizes efficiency and allows for better messaging control. But with these postal changes, you really can’t afford to wait until the last minute to do that year-end or summer slump letter. By the time you concept it, write it, bid it, print and process it and mail it, you will more than likely miss your targeted mail date and no amount of special favors or quick turnarounds from helpful printers will save you.
Planning and strategy have never been more important. Be pro-active with your mailing program and plan all your mailings for the year in advance. This allows you to work with your printer to buy all of the stock and supplies you will need for the year at a greater volume, which will lower your per unit price. And, you will be able to get on the printer’s production schedule far in advance of his other jobs. This will shorten your printing and processing time.
Postage Due: Will My Costs Go Up?
You might want to budget more money for postage, and here’s why: Right now, there’s no talk of raising non-profit rates. Most Non-profits can mail for 17.5 cents per unit as opposed to the First Class rate, which just went up to 45 cents. That means sending 1,000 letters costs only $175 dollars instead of $450. But, the increased hold time and coming changes to the USPS mean that the system really is rather unpredictable. This can impact what you plan to mail. For example, if you send out invitations to an event, holiday greeting cards or other items that are date-sensitive, you might want to consider opting for first class postage. This is really the only way to mail something like a monthly statement to your donors. Because of the increased lead time from data pull to in-home delivery, timely updates on giving or even progress on a donor-sponsored project are nearly impossible without going first class.
Going Postal: Is It Really That Bad?
Shortly before I posted this, a friend of mine called all of the post offices in her immediate area and asked them about these coming changes. Many of them said they didn’t know what she was talking about, and that her non-profit mail would be delivered, more or less, just as it always had in 2011. I will stipulate that there can be local exceptions, places where no processing centers are closing or where the mail volume is never really high enough to cause the post offices to hold non-profit mail. But I also have deep skepticism when it comes to trusting government officials, airlines, banks or insurance companies. And I’ll bet you do, too!
The Bottom Line:
Mail early (allowing 3 full weeks for delivery) or use first class in 2012, and don’t take risks with the income you need to keep your non-profit or ministry going.