The postage rate hike is scheduled to take effect Jan. 8. Should you move your January mail dates up to avoid the increase?
If it means a shift of just a day or two, sure, says Bethany Beach, DE-based catalog consultant Stephen Lett. But if it means moving your mail date by a week or more, think twice.
“If you mail toward the end of December and are scheduled to mail three or four weeks later, a shift of a week or two will shorten the life of the prior mailing,” Lett says. “This will affect your curve, reduce your revenue per catalog, and lower your contribution to profit and overhead. What’s more, there will be a lot of mailers who move their dates up, which will cause more competition in the mailbox just before the rate increase. The loss of sales due to this could far outweigh the postage savings.”
But do your homework, Lett adds, to determine if the savings are worth the potential loss to your income statement.