Tag: UK

An overhaul in postal pricing is set to spark a sea-change in the way mailing campaigns are planned.

‘Pricing in proportion’ (PIP) has been touted as the biggest change to the postal service since the debut of the adhesive postage stamp in 1840. Its introduction has sparked debate across the direct marketing industry, with many worried the changes will have dramatic implications for campaign costs as well as the execution of mailings themselves.

The Royal Mail’s new rules particularly affect charity, business-to-business and FMCG direct marketers who send out samples in bulky packs. The effects of the changes range from the relatively trivial – folding A4 letters to get them into the cheapest letter format – to more fundamental considerations concerning creativity.

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has encouraged agencies to carry out impact assessments on their existing work over the past year, and some have expressed concern about the results.

The volume of items sent annually through the post soared by five billion over the past decade, Royal Mail has said.
Alcohol and food was one of the fastest-growing sectors, with deliveries more than quadrupling between 1995 and 2005.
An upturn in home shopping meant clothing and shoe deliveries more than trebled over the 10-year period.
Royal Mail said its Life Through The Letterbox study gave a unique insight into Britain’s changing consumer habits.
Its data comes from “mail diaries” kept by 100,000 households over the course of a decade.
Royal Mail said it delivered 22 billion items of post last year compared to 17 billion in 1995.
Travel and holiday-related post increased from 103 million to 183.5 million over that same period.
And the volume of credit, bank and store cards hitting householders’ doormats nearly doubled to 182 million by 2005.