Postal Service Changes Bulk Mailing Requirements (9/4/2008)

The United States Postal Service has proposed new standards that could cost businesses dearly in penalties for mass mailings. The new requirements for the USPS' Move Update program would require businesses to update their bulk-mailing lists every 95 days, instead of every 185 days. Companies that fail to comply can be charged seven cents for every piece of mail in a mailing, not just the undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) pieces.

One company, Melissa Data, fears that the fallout could be grave. Melissa Data assists companies with mailings and is a licensee of the USPS' Move Update system that helps ensure compliance with up to date mailing addresses. "The proposed penalties show that the USPS is serious about holding mailers to a higher standard to help reduce UAA mail," says Gary Van Roekel, Melissa Data's VP of Sales and Marketing. "If a mailer delivers a 100,000 piece mailing, and the Postal Service determines that it is not Move Update compliant, the proposed penalty would be $7,000 for that noncompliant mailing."

There were no fines previously for mailings that had a considerable amount of undeliverable mail. The seven cent fine is the difference between the presort rate and the cost for a single piece of First-Class mail (which applies to UAA mail). Since the changes are only a proposal currently, Van Roekel says companies may only receive a warning on their first violation, and it may be six to eight months before the changes are instituted broadly.

The change, which would go into effect on November 23, is intended to reduce costs and waste from undeliverable bulk mail by 50 percent by 2010. It is estimated that 9.7 billion pieces of UAA mail is received every year by the postal service, and it costs $2 billion to process all of it. The Move Update standards will now include all standard mail in addition to first class mail.