Pitney Bowes expands direct mail sorting network to Southeast US
Mail services giant Pitney Bowes has opened a fifth direct mail sorting centre in the United states to expand its Presort Services unit. The company said it has filled a “void” in a previously underserved market by expanding its existing site in Duncan, South Carolina, to include direct mail processing capabilities.
Pitney Bowes said the expansion responded to customer demand, while reaffirming its position in the direct mail field.
The Connecticut-based firm said it stood to gain more mailers in an “important” market that involves processing billions of standard presort letters and cards each year.
Presort services involve Pitney Bowes sorting letters and cards on behalf of business clients so that the mail can enter the US Postal Service network at a later stage, attracting significant postage discounts for bypassing USPS in-house sorting procedures.
Debbie Pfeiffer, the Pitney Bowes Presort Services president, said her company was experiencing strong growth in helping businesses “facilitate commerce and navigate the complexities of a physical and digital world”.
“For marketers, direct mail remains a critical channel, and is even stronger when combined with digital channels. Our expansion into the Southeast will help make direct mail a more affordable and effective communication tool for our clients,” she said.
The expansion in the Southeast follows similar infrastructure investments in the Northeast region of the US, with Pitney Bowes merging two of its facilities in Bensalem and Langhorne in the State of Pennsylvania into a new 180,000 square foot facility in nearby Levittown.
Pitney Bowes’ other US direct mail sorting centres are located in Corona, California, in Dallas, Texas, and in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The new facility in Duncan will serve direct mail customers in the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, both Carolinas, Tennessee and Virginia.
Pitney Bowes said the rise of digital marketing has not resulted in a decline in physical direct mail, with total US marketing spending on direct mail remaining largely stable from 2009 to 2013.
