Great news for marketers and mailers! The United States Postal Service (USPS) is once again offering mailing incentive/promotion programs for 2019. Both the USPS and the mailing industry are very excited about these programs, as there were no similar programs in 2018. These promotion programs began in 2011 with the first Mobile Barcode incentive and have continued with added programs each year up until 2018. Due to the lack of an active USPS Board of Governors, no incentive programs were introduced for 2018.
The Promotions
There is a total of six promotions offered in 2019, five of which are repeat promotions from previous years (the sole new offering for 2019 is the Informed Delivery promotion). The details for these promotions are as follows:
Tactile, Sensory and Interactive Mailpiece Engagement Promotion
·Registration Period: December 15, 2018 – July 31, 2019
·Promotion Period: February 1, 2019 – July 31, 2019
·Eligible: USPS Marketing Mail letters and flats
Emerging and Advanced Technology Promotion
·Registration Period: January 15, 2019 – August 31, 2019
·Promotion Period: March 1, 2019 – August 31, 2019
·Eligible: First-Class Mail & USPS Marketing Mail
Earned Value Reply Mail Promotion
·Registration Period: February 15, 2019 – March 31, 2019
·Promotion Period: April 1, 2019 – June 30, 2019
·Eligible: BRM, CRM, and Share Mail
Personalized Color Transpromo Promotion
·Registration Period: May 15, 2019 – December 31, 2019
·Promotion Period: July 1, 2019 – December 31, 2019
·Eligible: First-Class Mail (excludes all FCM single-piece-price mail)
Mobile Shopping Promotion
·Registration Period: June 15, 2019 – December 31, 2019
·Promotion Period: August 1, 2019 – December 31, 2019
·Eligible: USPS Marketing Mail letters and flats
Informed Delivery Promotion
·Registration Period: July 15, 2019 – November 30, 2019
·Promotion Period: September 1, 2019 – November 30, 2019
·Eligible: First-Class Mail & USPS Marketing Mail letters and flats
The screen shots below show the calendar for the upcoming promotions, separated by class of mail.
Source: https://postalpro.usps.com/promotions/2019_calendar
The USPS has also published the technical information for these promotions, including the Component Characteristic Record (CCR) Incentive Code that must be correctly populated in the Mail.dat files for mailings claiming these incentives.
Source: https://postalpro.usps.com/promotions/quick_view
Impacts to Mailers
We strongly encourage mailers to take advantage of these promotions and include the incentives in their planning for mailings in 2019. Mailers should also work with their software providers to make sure that any mailing software is being updated to support submission of Mail.dat files to claim these incentives.
Since it has been awhile since active promotions have been offered, mail owners and mail service providers should be reminded that there is an enrollment process for both parties, and there is a separate enrollment process for each promotion. Even if you successfully enrolled for incentives in 2017 or earlier years, you will need to do fresh enrollments for the 2019 promotions.
It is also recommended that if you plan to participate in the new Informed Delivery Promotion, you try some Informed Delivery campaigns in advance of the promotion period. While this is not required, it is a good idea to get familiar with the process of designing pieces for these campaigns, and the technical aspects of submitting the campaigns. For more information on submission of Informed Delivery campaigns, the USPS has a dedicated web site for mailer participation.
The USPS is also asking mailers for their ideas and suggestions for promotion programs for 2020. To submit your ideas for future incentive programs, log on to https://postalpro.usps.com/promotions/2020_suggestions.
Resources
The new 2019 promotion program information is available on the PostalPro website, including the calendar and Quick View table shown above, links to the requirements for each promotion, industry webinar information, and more.
Jeff Peoples is President, Founder, and CEO, Window Book, Inc. With over 30 years of innovative solutions that make using the Postal Service easier and more profitable for mailers and shippers, he has done presentations at industry events, GraphExpo, MAILCOM, the National Postal Forum, Postal Customer Council meetings, Harvard Business Expert Forum, and other industry and direct marketing events.
This article originally appeared in the January/February, 2019 issue of Mailing Systems Technology.
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