SA Guide to USPS Postage Increases & How to Save

Another postage increase? No problem.

Our team of Direct Mail experts leveraged their knowledge to help our fellow marketers understand what was increasing in price, and a few promotions offered to help negate it. Here we are just shy of a year later, and the USPS has announced another round of increases for DM, as well as a schedule for 2023 and beyond. We’ve had our team do the same research, and we hope to outline our “guide” to navigating these upcoming USPS postage increases AND how to save your marketing dollars in the process.

In April, the USPS filed a notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) requesting price changes to take effect July 10, 2022, that are in accordance with approvals provided by the PRC last year. This notice announced the intent to increase First-Class mail by 6.5%, in line with the increased inflation of the current economic landscape. In addition, the USPS released its intention to begin price adjustments twice per year, beginning in January 2023, known as Market Dominant Price Adjustments. These will take place approximately every six months.

Postage Increase? No problem…

In May, the United States Postal Service (USPS) began planning a postage increase that went live effective August 29th. About a month ago we posted a short breakdown for LinkedIn on how this might affect our clients and partners – it averages to about a 7% increase in First Class and Marketing Mail (check out our post or download the one-sheet below).

Now, we know what you’re thinking – 7% is pretty big! True. But the reality is that it’s possible to negate the increase by a just a little bit if you know what to look for – and lucky for you, we do!

For the last 18 months the USPS has been offering promos of 2% savings on postage if you meet certain criteria and these promos are NOT ENDING! Adding tactile, sensory, or interactive components. Adding technologies such as AR, NFC, or QR codes. Adding a mobile shopping feature. All of these can help you save and offset the cost of postage. In fact, for some of the promos they’ve INCREASED the postage savings to 4%!

I’m a Marketer, not a Mathematician but…

Consumers have been in their homes more than ever in the last 12 months causing direct mail trends to rise. We have seen an uptick in the interest in catalogs, brochures, dimensional mailers, and more formats lately as major brands try to reconnect with their target audiences. While it is important to pivot to digital methods in today’s environment, these digital campaigns in combination with direct mail are proven to increase a marketer’s effectiveness.

To help you and other marketers evaluate this current trend and take your efforts to the next level, we’ve created our Guide to Direct Mail. In this short eBook, we show you the importance of connecting with your audience through this traditional and proven method of 1:1 direct marketing. Plus, take a look at some of our most popular in-line direct mail formats, including our patented Moving Steps mailer.

You can download the full Guide to Direct Mail to see our analysis and formats. To further discuss or learn more, please feel free to reach out to your Sandy Alexander Representative, Gene Palecco at [email protected], or call our main line 973.470.8100.