Written by Donna Hanbery | Executive Director, Saturation Mailers Coalition

SENATE APPROVES 1789 AS AMENDED

On April 25, 2012, the Senate – in a 62 to 27 vote – approved senate bill 1789, the “21st Century Postal Service Act.” This bipartisan legislation, authored by Senators Lieberman (I-CT), Tom Carper (D-DE), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Scott Brown (R-MA) was passed after the addition of approximately 20 amendments and the defeat of an almost equal number – including suggestions to end the mailbox monopoly, increase postal rates, and an effort by Senor John McCain to substitute the original Senate 1789 for a bill that looked a lot like Congressman Issa’s postal reform House bill.

Key provisions of the bill of interest to publishers that mail include the following:

Written by Greg Birkett, PaperChain Chair

I want to start by thanking all of the people that gave of their time and talent to be with us in Orlando, Florida, cooped up in a hotel meeting room while it was a beautiful 80 degrees out.  The input gathered from this group will chart the path for the next year or so for PaperChain.

We started the session with a brief history of PaperChain and how it came to be, successes and failures and discussion of the perception vs. reality of PaperChain's mission.  In reviewing the Mission Statement we chopped it up and started over again, coming up with this basic statement "The Mission of PaperChain is to brand and promote the Free Paper Industry".  There it is...simple...straightforward...what we want to do.  This will act as our guiding light as we move forward.

Riverdale - Secretary of State Cesar A. Perales today announced a statewide partnership with AARP, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Center for Elder Abuse at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, New York State Office for the Aging (SOFA) and the Free Community Papers of New York (FCPNY) to launch two major consumer initiatives: The Senior Consumer Information Hotline, a 24 hour toll-free recording providing seniors with timely consumer information, and The Informed Consumer, a consumer advice column published in the free community papers across the state.

Written by Donna Hanbery, Executive Director | Saturation Mailers Coalition

Bringing the Barcode Back | In January 2012, USPS Vice President of Domestic Products, Gary Reblin, revealed that the Postal Service will pursue another barcode promotion. In 2011, the Postal Service gave mailers a 3% “upfront” discount on qualifying Standard and First Class mail with a mobile barcode. Reblin stated the promotion was so successful that the Postal Board of Governors had asked the Service to develop a 2012 promotion.