LETTERS

Curb your enthusiasm for co-ops

The November article “Co-ops Crippling Catalog List Business” tells only half a story. Millard Group's Bill LaPierre cites the price of a fully segmented Herrington catalog list at $232/M, while he says co-ops sell these names for just $50/M. What LaPierre fails to mention is that the shift to these $50/M co-ops from the $232/M verticals has resulted in massive attrition in list rental income. The lost revenue has had tremendous negative financial impact for these mailers on one side of the ledger, as they presumably benefit by lower co-op costs on the other side. To fully understand the true cost of co-op database names, a mailer must factor in this substantial loss in vertical list rental income. Second, given that mailers are paying for co-op to co-op multis without the benefit of de-duping, at the end of the day, these very same co-op names are likely costing mailers more in the neighborhood of $100-$125/M on this fact alone. Add in the loss of vertical list rental income, and we get a very different picture than the rosy one painted by LaPierre.
Andy Ostroy
Chairman/CEO, Belardi/Ostroy ALC