Tag Archives: Business Extension Bureau

PRC Approves Rate Hike effective Apr 26

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April 26th Rate HikeThe Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) has issued orders approving some of the price changes proposed earlier by the Postal Service. After its review of the USPS filing, discussion of the input from commenters, and its own analysis, the PRC found that “the planned” prices for First-Class Mail do not violate the price cap.

The PRC has also approved the price increase for competitive products (proposed on January 26), except for some rates associated with products whose transfer from “market dominant” to “competitive” remain under review.

Rate increases will take effect on April 26, 2015. You can view the new rates by clicking below:

STANDARD NONPROFIT LETTERS AND FLATS

STANDARD LETTERS AND FLAT | FIRST CLASS LETTERS & POSTCARDS

Downtown Houston Permit Holders

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BEB MAIL POOCHIf you currently hold a mailing permit number that is issued from the Downtown Houston Post Office, you will need to make some changes.

As closure of the Downtown Post Office completes, all permit numbers issued from there must be re-issued from the North Houston office.

To make the transition, you are required to re-apply (at no additional charge) for a North Houston permit number. However, North Houston may not be able to assign the same number you were given from the Downtown Post Office. If the number issued from Downtown is not currently taken by another mailer in North Houston, you will be assigned the same number. Otherwise, you will be issued a new number.

This process must be completed no later than June 15, 2015
Inventory of items already printed with the Houston permit information will be accepted throughout the balance of this year. If you currently use a permit with the verbiage “Houston”; when creating new inventory, you will need to use the verbiage, “N. Houston” going forward. A sample for your review is below.
EXAMPLE INIDICA

You can see detailed standards for mailing permit verbiage by clicking here or you can contact the North Houston Post Office at 713-226-3032.

If you need additional information or assistance, don’t hesitate to contact us at 713-528-5568.

BEB Takes Platinum Award

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2015-02-01 AVA DIGITAL AWARD BEB WINS PLATINUMPlatinum is the highest honor received within the AVA Digital Award annual competition. It recognizes outstanding achievement by creative professionals involved in the concept, direction, design and production of media that is part of the evolution of digital communication. Our winning entry was for the use of QR Codes in our annual company interactive calendars.

The competition this year received over 2,500 entries from across the globe. The AVA Digital Awards is sponsored and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP). This international organization consists of several thousand production, marketing, advertising and free-lance professionals. We thank all of our valued clients and partners for continued opportunities to serve them!

You can see our winning entry by clicking here.

USPS Files Market Dominant Price Change

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Blog with BEB 2015-01-15 USPS Postal Rate Increase RequestToday the U.S. Postal Service filed a request with the PRC (Postal Regulatory Commission) for a rate adjustment (1.966%) based on the CPI (Consumer Price Index). The request for increase applies to only “market-dominant products”, which includes Standard Mail, the primary postage used by marketers.
The USPS has requested that the increase take effect on April 26 and estimates that it will generate an additional $900 million on an annualized basis. The USPS estimates that an additional $400 million will be contributed to the fiscal year 2015, if the PRC agrees to meet the proposed implementation date.
The case also includes a separate pricing structure for Standard Mail run through the FSS (Flats Sequencing System). The request removes FSS pricing for carrier route, high density, or high density plus categories. Instead, a five-digit carrier route pallet rate will be created. An estimated 2.465% rate increase is predicted for Standard Flats.
Forever stamps will remain unchanged (49 cents), International letters will increase to $1.20 (a 5 cent increase), and postcard rates increase to 35 cents (a 1 cent rate hike).
We will keep you abreast of the outcome of this filing as it becomes available.

New Congress Against 5-Day Delivery

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PostalReporter.com published a great blog with details about H.Res. 12, calling for the USPS to do what is needed to continue delivering mail 6-days a week.  Check out the blog and more details on the Resolution by clicking here.

Marketing for Small Business Fall Seminar Series Review

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Marketing For Small Business Fall Seminar Series ReviewsThe final 2014, Marketing for Small Business Seminar Series kicks off next week with with our Blogging class on Wednesday, October 29, 2014 between 11:30 – 1:00pm.

We have compiled results from the over 48 surveys submitted by participants since the inception of this program in July; and are proud to share the results!  90% of the respondents rated the classes as Excellent, 70% attended multiple classes within the series, and  97.3% said they would recommend classes to their friends and colleagues.

Each class covers a specific topic and is focused on teaching ways that small businesses can market using leading-edge technology without “breaking the bank” or having to hire a large staff to execute the plan.  The classes (Blogging, Social Media, Two Mails: Direct Mail | e-mail, and Search Engine Optimization) are limited to a maximum of 8 people to keep interaction at a high level and allow for personalized teaching.  For details and registration on the remaining classes, click here.

Our students gave specific examples of what they thought was good about the seminars.  See below for a glance at a few highlights:

Positive Comments from Marketing For Small Business Seminar SeriesOur valued graduates let us know that they are looking for additional class offerings as well.  We are currently creating content for the most requested subjects and will offer continuing education in the first quarter of 2015.  The new curriculum will include more guest lecturers and expanded content from the our original series.  In case you missed one of the original sets or would like to recommend someone, we will continue to offer the introduction of Marketing For Small Business Series once each quarter in  2015.

Marketing For Small Business Seminar Series suggestions for additional classesWe look forward to working with more new companies and expanding our relationship with our existing clients through further education of Marketing for Small Business.

Thank you!

 

 

SEO Survey

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Thank you for attending our Fall Seminar Series class on Search Engine Optimization.  We hope you found the class informative and enjoyable.  If you haven’t already, would you please share your thoughts on the class with us?  We welcome your comments and direction.

BUTTON-Take The Survey

Two Mails Class Rated EXCELLENT By 100% of Attendees

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Two Mails Class Rated ExcellentOur Fall Seminar Series on Marketing For Small Business has been awesome!  We’ve met such great people and gotten to know some fabulous companies!  This week’s class covered, The Two Mails: Direct Mail | e-mail.  100% of the attendees submitted a survey and 100% rated the class EXCELLENT!  Thank you!  See you next week for our Search Engine Optimization class hosted by our partners at Siteboxpro.