As catalogers scrambled to adjust mailings following Hurricane Katrina, many list firms stepped in to help clients suppress addresses in the affected areas. Hackensack, NJ-based Mokrynskidirect, for instance, is working with service bureaus to help clients with zip suppressions, says senior vice president Steve Tamke, “We’re also asking our list management clients to allow deductions [from other mailers] from these zip codes without penalty.”
Princeton, NJ-based American List Counsel (ALC) is suppressing addresses in the Hurricane Katrina emergency zones on all list orders placed at no charge. On list orders placed prior to Katrina with future mail dates, ALC allowed mailers to suppress records in affected areas and take those deductions at no charge.
Schaumburg, IL-based Rubin Response Management Services is also waiving omit charges for the hurricane-related areas, as is Newtown, PA-based MKTG Services.
Indeed, several list firms have asked service bureaus to perform state suppression free of charge. As an industry, says Geoff Batrouney, executive vice president of New Rochelle, NY-based list firm Estee Marketing Group, “we need to lessen the burden on the postal system and allow the residents to cope with putting their lives back together.”