Exigent rate increase—three words that strike fear into the
hearts of direct mailers. It's an increase that comes above and beyond the
regular, annual rate adjustment, which is capped by the Consumer Price Index.
If passed, it could be a game-changer for marketers who depend on direct mail. Well, start trembling, mailers. The Affordable Mail Alliance
claims to have information that the Postal Board of Governors will be
considering such an increase in September. The Alliance, formed by concerned
associations including the Direct Marketing Association and the American
Catalog Mailers Association, sent a letter yesterday to Postal Board Chairman
Mickey D. Burnett warning of dire consequences to an exigent increase. “The
mailing industry, and its suppliers, responsible for $1.3 trillion in sales
annually, and nearly 8 million private sector jobs,” the letter read, “are
unanimous in our great concern that, notwithstanding the Postal Service's
ongoing financial predicament, an ‘exigent' increase would cause severely
adverse, and likely irrevocable, consequences for mail volume and
revenue." With Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe insisting that reform be
enacted immediately to save the Postal Service from financial disaster, the
threat of an exigent rate increase worries direct mailers.
