Alliance Report 14/20
October 22, 2014
In what might be a foreshadowing of what the United States Postal Service (USPS) could experience, the public and the media in Canada are not happy with the beginning this week of a major phasing out of door-to-door postal delivery and phasing in of neighborhood cluster boxes. Here is a sampling of headlines from north of the border:
The USPS can learn from this public relations fiasco. It does appear to be carefully gathering data to better support its business case to phase out most door-to-door delivery in the US.
Recently, the Alliance was asked by the USPS Office of Inspector General (OIG) for our input on the Postal Service’s stated desire to phase out most door-to-door delivery in the US, as well as legislative proposals in the House and Senate that would enable such a phase-out. In response, Meta Brophy, the president of the Alliance board of directors issued this statement: “The Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers supports USPS cost-saving initiatives that keep rates down and maintain—not diminish—service and mail’s effectiveness. The Alliance announced support for converting from six to five-day mail delivery shortly after the Postal Service publicly advocated the change. We might support centralized and curbside delivery conversion, but first we would like to see current, credible, quantitative and qualitative analysis of true cost savings, the likely impact on direct mail response rates, and the impact on subscribers’ continued interest in print periodicals. In order to fulfill our core missions, which are critically important to much of our nation’s people, Alliance members rely heavily on using mail for fundraising, building membership and subscriptions, engaging members and donors, communications, thanking supporters, and advocacy. The efficacy of centralized delivery needs to be thoroughly evaluated from both cost and impact perspectives.”
The OIG is performing two important studies related to the potential change in mode of delivery to millions of Americans. One is evaluating specifically how changing the mode of delivery from door-to-door to curbside or centralized cluster boxes could change the perception and utility of mail. Degradation in the perception of mail because of where it must be picked up would manifest itself in people checking the mailbox less frequently and throwing out more mail without reading it. The ultimate negative reaction could be to give up on hard copy mail completely, as one could easily envision households deciding to do in areas that experience major amounts of snow each winter. The OIG is using the USPS Household Diary Study that is released annually and is based largely on diaries kept by households recording in detail what mail they receive. It also is using a USPS study called the “Mail Moment” that focused on how households manage the receipt and disposition of mail on a daily basis. And finally, the OIG contracted for its own qualitative research on the potential impact of changes in the mode of delivery. A second related study by the OIG is focusing directly on the brand valuation of the USPS, including how changes in delivery can degrade it.
Changes in the mode of delivery at the household could have major implications for the future use of mail by nonprofits, and the Alliance appreciates the efforts initiated by the Inspector General and by the Postal Service to ensure that it doesn’t make decisions that are penny wise and pound foolish. We particularly urge that, in addition to the qualitative studies underway, quantitative studies be done to accurately gauge the impact of delivery changes on open, read, and response rates for direct mail.