Today, we share a snapshot of the mailing industry as mailers navigate direct marketing campaigns and operations in the face of the Covid-19 Pandemic. A top-level analysis – despite many businesses being ordered to close and/or work from home, the mailing industry remains strong and highly active.

Snapshot of Key Portions of the Mailing Industry

  • The USPS is 100% operational and experiencing only minor issues with delivery in a few locations. The post offices are open and operating with required social distancing protocols. Commercial and nonprofit marketing mail and first-class mail are being accepted at DDU, SCF, and NDC locations. The post office has issued numerous notices restating their commitment to provide critical mail delivery for the United States.
  • Printers and lettershops continue to work as normal and are printing, personalizing, and processing direct mail campaigns for nonprofits and businesses. Mail pieces from first-class correspondence, to fundraising appeals to self-mailers are all still being produced and mailed.
  • Comminglers are considered an essential business and are operating on their normal schedules. We’ve seen no change to pick-up or drop schedules for any class of mail. We are still able to track both inbound and outbound mail and have not seen any change to delivery times.
  • Trucking companies are still transporting mail as regularly scheduled. Trucks are making pick-ups from printers and lettershops and delivering them to commingling and drop shipping facilities without any delays.
  • Businesses are still producing their vital business mail such as statements and invoices. Marketing mail campaigns are still being conducted, but this is the area where we’ve seen a decrease. Some due to the need to delay so they can alter messaging to be more relevant to the current situation and some due to the fact that their business has been ordered to close temporarily.
  • Nonprofit mailers continue to mail for the most part. Some are being more selective about to whom they send solicitations. For example, many are focusing on donors who have demonstrated a higher giving capacity realizing that those who make historically smaller donations may not have the current means to continue their support.

Overall, mail volume is down by approximately 25%. And while this sounds a bit alarming, we see this as good news for mailers. People look forward to retrieving the mail from their mailboxes each day as it’s a chance to get out of the house and perhaps wave at a neighbor. For those that continue to mail, the reduced mail volume means that your mail piece will receive more attention. And, now that people are spending a lot more time at home, the mail that floats around on the kitchen counter is likely to be seen more frequently and by more household members.

A Few Tips for Mailing During Covid-19 Pandemic

  1. Hone your message so that it’s relevant to the current circumstances
  2. Utilize the USPS’s Informed Delivery campaigns to further enhance your mail campaign with a touchpoint via email on the day your mail piece arrives in their mailbox. This is a free service and we’d be happy to help you add this to your mailing.
  3. Evaluate to whom you’re mailing and the message – you don’t want to appear tone-deaf in this climate
  4. Consider a different format to capture attention. Most mail is currently arriving in a #10 envelope. Can you go bigger? Change the color? Add compelling teaser copy? Send a self-mailer?

MailSmart Logistics is a postal logistics provider assisting nonprofits and commercial mailers to get their marketing and critical mail delivered in the timeliest manner possible while saving 5-10% in postage rates.