Author Archives: bebtexas

The Holidays Are Now!

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The current paper shortage is changing mailing schedules for the upcoming mailing season. Everyone is affected:
Political
Retail
Health Insurance/Open Enrollment
Nonprofits
Seasonal Events
Nobody is immune

For mailings 50,000 or more, you will need to order paper early!
Paper mills are asking for 6-8 week lead times to provide paper. Envelope manufacturers are taking a little longer. That means our already hectic holiday schedules have been pushed forward by almost two months.

The Time To Plan Your Holiday Mailings is NOW!

Click here to download four (4) mailing calendars to give you a quick reference on when to order based on your targeted in home dates.

 

The Punch for Paper

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Nobody is certain how to best manage the current commercial paper shortage. With the open enrollment, holiday, and political mailing season only a couple of months away, we are encouraging our clients to to order paper now. Prices continue to climb (faster than gasoline), and delivery times continue to extend! Worse yet, there is no guarantee that the paper we order today and expect delivery by August will actually arrive!

The problem started a while ago. Even before the pandemic, restrictive environmental regulations, aging/expensive equipment, and skyrocketing labor costs contributed to many mills closing because they were unable to compete. Also, many mills quit producing commercial printing paper and began manufacturing board stock as the packaging industry flourished. That’s when the U.S. paper shortage began. We weren’t too worried because mills from overseas were able to fill the void.

Companies adopted the “Just In Time” operative to allow for decreased amounts of inventory saving valuable space and reducing costs. JIT works great when the supply chain is whole. Thanks to the pandemic, the supply chain today is broken and on many levels.

U.S. Ports are still scrambling to catch up and are a primary source of disruption. There is also a container problem in on the other side of the ocean. Lou Caron, President of The Printing Industries Association of Southern California (PIASC) blogged that he was told that the Korean paper mills are producing at max capacity but couldn’t find enough containers to ship their inventory. Most likely because there are so many here waiting to be unloaded. Remember, the paper mills are competing for the same container space that giants like Amazon and Walmart need.

Another hurdle is that it takes a long period of time for a paper mill to come back online.  It can take up to six-months. As the pandemic cycles in waves, mills have shutdown, re-opened, shutdown, and re-opened causing significant delays and reducing available inventory nationwide.

In short, we are all vying for paper and trying to prepare for the upcoming mailing season. We strongly recommend that you order paper early. If you are planning to mail in the fall, order your paper now. Unfortunately, costs are higher than we have ever seen before, and as mentioned earlier, the mills aren’t guaranteeing complete delivery.

We need to be flexible and adapt to the current situation. Be open to using different types of paper or trying a different type of mailer. The paper shortage has dramatically affected the envelope industry as well. You may want to consider self-mailers or postcards in lieu of envelope mailings this fall.  Most importantly, start your plan and paper as soon as possible.

 

 

New Postage Rates Effective July 9, 2022

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The Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) has approved the recent request for price changes to take effect on July 10, 2022.

Price increases on First-Class Mail range from 3.4% up to 9.7%.  Forever stamps go up to .60/ea, metered mail increased .04 to .57/ea , and postcards on average increased by 9.7%.

Nonprofit mailers were hit “hard” with increases averaging between 6.4% – 8.5% on letter sized mail, and up to 11.9% on flats. Marketing Mail will deal with increases between 6.6% and 8.8%.

Why is the USPS raising rates again? They say that the increase is generally based on the consumer price index and will help to maintain competitiveness in the market. As inflation and operating expenses continue to rise, the price adjustments will help with the implementation of “Delivering for America”, a plan that includes a $40 billion investment in their infrastructure over the next ten years.

It’s important to remember that direct mail is effective. The Data & Marketing Association reports that up to 90% of direct mail gets opened, compared to only 20-30% of emails. It’s a refreshing change from on-screen advertising, and has a lot less competition than digital. According to the United States Postal Service, the average American household receives only 454 marketing mail pieces per year compared to 3.6 million digital ads delivered (on average) per person, per year! Even more, reasons to use direct mail. Epsilon reported that 73% of U.S. consumers prefer direct mail because they can read it whenever they want. Direct mail delivers and offers powerful punch with amazing ROI.

Click here to download the new BEB Postal Rate Card taking effect July 9, 2022.

What is GDP and Why it Matters to Marketers

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The U.S. GDP is at 6.9%. U.S. real GDP growth rate (annualized) during the fourth quarter of 2021, up from the 2.3% growth in the third quarter. For all of 2021, real GDP grew by 5.7%, versus a 3.4% decline in 2020.

So, what exactly IS GDP? It’s an acronym for Gross domestic product. It is the total monetary or market value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period. As a broad measure of overall domestic production, it functions as a comprehensive scorecard of a given country’s economic health.

The calculation of a country’s GDP encompasses all private and public consumption, government outlays, investments, additions to private inventories, paid-in construction costs, and the foreign balance of trade. (Exports are added to the value and imports are subtracted).

Of all the components that make up a country’s GDP, the foreign balance of trade is especially important. The GDP of a country tends to increase when the total value of goods and services that domestic producers sell to foreign countries exceeds the total value of foreign goods and services that domestic consumers buy. When this situation occurs, a country is said to have a trade surplus.

If the opposite situation occurs—that is the amount that domestic consumers spend on foreign products is greater than the total sum of what domestic producers are able to sell to foreign consumers—it is called a trade deficit. In this situation, the GDP of a country tends to decrease.

GDP can be computed on a nominal basis or a real basis, the latter accounting for inflation. Overall, real GDP is a better method for expressing long-term national economic performance since it uses constant dollars.

A constant dollar is an adjusted value of currency used to compare dollar values from one period to another. Due to inflation, the purchasing power of the dollar changes over time, so in order to compare dollar values from one year to another, they need to be converted from nominal (current) dollar values to constant dollar values. Constant dollar value may also be referred to as real dollar value.

Successful marketing strategies use economic indicators to make sound decisions and identify the best timing for messages. The economy has a direct impact on the way we market to consumers and understanding the connection is an essential practice to any successful campaign.

Spring Shopping

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As winter turns into to spring, people start to pack away coats, return patio furniture to the backyard, and shake off their winter shut-in mentality. They also start to shop. A lot.

Of course, consumers stock up on essentials such as garden equipment, spring-cleaning supplies, and warm weather clothing. They also spend lots of money on items that may surprise you!

Bazaarvoice, a software tech company, conducted an analysis of shopper’s behaviors using data from their 5,700+ brand & retail clients and interesting statistics took shape. In 2021, people spent $5.4 billion on St Patrick’s day. That’s an average of $40.71 per consumer.

Website traffic for dresses rose 16% higher in spring over summer. Traffic increased even more in late April as high school students began to prep for graduation parties and proms.

Lawn and garden traffic grew by 61% during the week of spring break.

Christmas spending generates around $800 billion in sales, and $9 billion of it is from Black Friday. Spring holidays generate around $55 billion in sales:

$ 5.4 billion    St Patrick’s Day
$21.6 billion    Easter
$28.0 billion    Mother’s Day
$55.0 billion    Total

Let us not forget April 15th – Tax Day. The IRS issued 128 million refunds for the 2021 tax filing season (2020 tax year), which totaled $355 billion. What’s more, nearly 8 out of 10 people who receive a refund will spend it rather than put in into savings.

Reviews from your customers are essential. The Bazaarvoice analysis showed that 75% of online vacuum-cleaner shoppers read a review before making a purchase. Similar numbers were found in lawn care (69%), tools (61%), and dresses (60%) categories.

When outlining your spring retail strategy, be sure to plan for seasonal behavior surges. Plot the timing of when to offer the right products and services so you can be ahead of your competitors and create incentives for your satisfied customers to review your business.

Postal Reform Act of 2022 Passes – On It’s Way to the Senate

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Finally, some good news! The House passed the Postal Reform Act of 2022 on Tuesday.

This bill addresses the finances and operations of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). It requires the Office of Personnel Management to establish the Postal Service Health Benefits Program for USPS employees and retirees and provides for coordinated enrollment of retirees under this program and Medicare. The bill repeals the requirement that the USPS prepay (annually) future retirement health benefits, something no other government entity was required to do. The bill would eliminate much of USPS debt and restructure some of its operations, opening the door to the first overhaul of the agency in 15 years while providing major financial relief.

The bill will also allow the USPS to establish a program to enter into agreements with an agency of any state, local, or tribal government, and with other government agencies, to provide certain nonpostal products and services such as collecting water bills or basic Department of Motor Vehicle functions as long as they reasonably contribute to the costs of the USPS and meet other specified criteria.

Postal Reform also requires the USPS to develop and maintain a public dashboard to track service performance and must report regularly on its operations and financial condition.

The Postal Regulatory Commission must annually submit to the USPS a budget of its expenses. It must also conduct a study to identify the causes and effects of postal inefficiencies relating to flats.

After passing in the House on Tuesday, the new measure now heads to the Senate, where it already has bipartisan support and a passing vote is expected soon.