U.S. Mailing Industry Task Force aims to make mail more competitive

The Mailing Industry Task Force has issued recommendations for a course of action to increase the effectiveness of mail by focusing on product and service improvements.

The Task Force, co-chaired by Michael J. Critelli, Chairman and CEO of Pitney Bowes, and John Nolan, U.S. Postal Service Deputy Postmaster, presented suggestions at a recent National Postal Forum in Denver, Colorado.

“The mailing industry is a $USD900 billion market employing nine million people, representing nearly eight per cent of the domestic GNP. We want to leverage its economic power to help grow the nation’s business and make this critical sector of the economy even more vital,” said Nolan.

Recommendations included developing standards and systems to help make every letter mailpiece unique, identifiable and trackable, just as packages are.

New value could be added to mail by leveraging barcode technology to enable mailers and recipients to track individual pieces and develop performance measurement tools.
To make mail more competitive, preparation standardization and network optimization initiatives were offered, including standardizing mail preparation, entry and containerization requirements. With pricing a competitive issue, the report offered industry recommendations for a streamlining of the rate-making process, contract pricing options and predictable rate increases.

“We’ve already begun implementing some of the recommendations. We expanded our CONFIRM program this month to enhance mailers’ ability to track their mail, and have begun implementing plans to optimize the distribution network,” said Nolan.