Why the Postman Should Be Your Best Friend

I'd like to share with you a secret that is unknown by most business people and even most direct marketers. The post office really really likes junk mail. In fact, junk mail makes up a healthy chunk of their revenue.

Good direct marketers basically do a lot of the work for the post office before it even gets in their hands. Really good direct marketers do so much of the work ahead of time that they can hire their own trucks and drive their mail right to the postal sortation centers near where the mail is delivered. As you can imagine, this makes the post office very very happy.

No better example of the postal service's love affair with direct marketers is the amazingly robust website they maintain: www.usps.com.

Go to this section to find all sorts of meaty goodness on direct mail: http://www.usps.com/directmail/welcome.htm?from=home&page=directmail

This site has resources for the smallest business just wanting to get out a little mailing to goodies that can bring tears to the eyes of even a cynical old junk mailer like myself.

The ability to find your nearby mail design analyst made me particularly misty eyed. I will tell you, this is a far sight better than driving to Boston's South Station postal office, searching out some cubicle dweller down a long hallway and hope that they weren't out on a 2 hour lunch. I often get a call (a phone call!) within 24 hours of emailing a PDF file of a mail piece that I need approved. This sure beats the many many times I was told in the bad old days to PRINT the piece and then bring it on by for them to look at. Sure, let me print a million of these envelopes and get 'em to you to approve!

I just went through the site and found everything from direct mail templates (design made easy!) to a listing of very low cost direct mail seminars (only $59 in a dozen cities).

So the next time the postman hands you your daily stack 'o junk mail, be sure to thank him. Those mailers have made it possible for the USPS to build a mighty impressive website that you can use to improve your very next mail campaign.