The Mailers’ Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC) is a venue for the USPS to share technical information with mailers and receive advice and recommendations concerning mail-related products and services, in an effort to enhance customer value and expand the use of USPS products and services. Meetings are hosted once per quarter and offer an opportunity for mailers to directly interact with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) executive leadership team on new and existing programs. Here, Canon production inkjet customers and thINK members Scott Williams, General Manager of Operations, Impact and Dina Kessler, President, Kessler Creative, share a recap from the April 9-11 MTAC meeting with the thINK community.

Improving USPS Operational Efficiency

The Q2 2024 MTAC meeting commenced with the postmaster general discussing the reorganization of leadership within the USPS to foster cross-collaboration and a more effective environment for resolving challenges. He highlighted the need for a quality assurance group, which is currently lacking within the USPS. Operational efficiency was a focal point, with truck utilization at originating facilities increasing significantly from 35% to 93%. Additionally, plans were announced to expand the count of sorting and delivery centers (S&DCs) to 420 locations.

During the general sessions, there was a focus on modernizing the USPS’s cloud infrastructure to achieve reliable 99.99% availability and real-time updates. Efforts to enhance APIs and promote greater customer collaboration were emphasized, along with initiatives to improve package label creation and payment validation.

The National Postal Forum is set to return in June, with the completely sold-out Exhibit Hall featuring 160 exhibiting companies. The event, Connecting at the Crossroads, takes place June 2-5, 2024 in Indianapolis. If you are interested in attending, register online at npf.org. 

July Postage Increase and 2024 Mail Growth Incentives

Looking ahead, a postage increase is slated for July 2024, with a substantial rise of 7.8% (1.6% for CPI, 4.3% for density, and 1.8% for retirement). Despite this, the USPS anticipates growth for marketing letter mail.

During the Wednesday closed session, the product management team shared updates on the Mail Growth incentives as well as the 2025 Proposed Incentives. Regarding the Mail Growth Incentives, registration ends June 30, 2024, so if you are interested in this incentive you must register by then. Both First-Class Mail and Marketing Mail Growth Incentives will provide eligible mailers 30% postage credit on mail volume growth. Mailers will receive a postage credit for qualifying volume in excess of 1M pieces and FY23 baseline volume — whichever is higher. Earned postage credits will be issued quarterly after June, September, and December 2024. If you would like to learn more, go to postalpro.usps.com/growth-incentive-faqs. This is a great opportunity to increase your mail volume while saving money!

2025 Proposed Mailing Promotions

The 2025 Proposed Mailing Promotions were shared with MTAC members but are not yet final, as they are pending Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) approval. There will be five mailing promotions potentially offered with a few key changes. The Informed Delivery Promotion will not run as its own promotion; it will be an add-on to an existing promotion to gain an additional 1% for discount mailers and an additional .5% for the eDoc submitter. The benefit is that you can use it all year as an addition to another promotion. A new promotion called Continuous Contact could be offered, which would give a 3% discount for increasing customer touchpoints by mailing more frequently to the same households; the content must be complementary or iterative, not duplicated. Stay tuned for the approval from the PRC and implementation of these promotions.

Please feel free to reach out to Scott or Dina if you have any questions regarding MTAC or the information shared. We represent the thINK community while at MTAC and are glad to ask questions while attending on your behalf.