Yes, direct mail can be scary.  Even being in the mailing business it is a little scary dealing with the USPS and all of its ever changing regulations.  However, that is my business and we do know what the regulations are for mailing, we know how to design for mailing and we even know how to print for mailing.  When printing, paper thickness, height-length ratio and size  are all important.  Knowing postal regulations can mean the difference in the amount of postage that is paid or in some cases if the direct mail piece will be accepted by the USPS at all. Some times it just pays to let professionals handle a project.  At Burns the project moves from one knowledgeable department to another.  There is no need to run all over town for a graphic designer, a printer and then a mailer.  We are a one stop convenience for all three.  So I have given you three good reasons to let Burns handle your project.

O.K. so today I have just made an unashamed pitch for using my company.  It must have been the goblins who made me do it.  Happy Halloween!

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Is paper getting a bad rap? When you look at the facts you may think that it is not such a bad thing to use paper.

Paper Facts

• Paper is Sustainable, as trees are a renewable resource and paper waste is fully recoverable.
• There are currently 10 million more acres of forestland in the U.S. than there were 20 years ago according to the Society of American Foresters.
• The seven electronic data center servers that power the Internet use more than twice the energy as the entire paper industry.
• When people use paper, landowners plant more trees. Remove the profit incentive for maintaining forests and they will be cut down and the land put to other use.
• Making a computer requires the mining and refining of dozens of minerals and metals, including gold, silver and palladium, as well as the extensive use of plastics and hydrocarbon solvents.
• Only 18% of all electronic devices are currently recycled, and 1.84 million tons of these devices were disposed of in U.S. landfills in 2006.  In addition 30 to 40 million PCs will be ready for disposal in each of the next few years according to IP Down to Earth Insights.
• E waste now constitutes our single largest toxic waste export according to IP Down to Earth Insights.
• 45 million tons of paper and paperboard were recovered from recycling in 2007, which represented 57% of all paper and paperboard waste according to American Paper and Forest Association.
• On average it takes 500 kilowatt hours of electricity to produce 440 lbs. of paper, the average amount consumed per person annually in the U.S. That is the equivalent of powering one computer continuously for 5 months according to IP Down to Earth.
• A Swedish study found that the environmental impact of reading a daily newspaper for one year is less than reading news online for 30 minutes a day. The comparison was made based on the carbon footprint required to execute, host, protect and back-up on-line media programs according to Printweek November 2007.

At Burns Mailing & Printing, Inc. we recycle all of our paper waste.  We recycle our aluminum plates for the press and even our empty soda cans. It is for certain that print and computers are here to stay but we can all do our part to protect the enviroment.  Don’t forget to unplug those phone chargers and other chargers when not in use.

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It is really hard to believe that Christmas is right around the corner.  This week we received the USPS recommendations on mailing for the holidays.  To ensure delivery of holiday cards and packages by December 25th, the USPS suggests that mail be entered by the recommended mailing dates as follows:

First Class Mail – December 20th

Priority Mail – December 21st

Express Mail -December 22nd

Parcel Post – December 15th

DNDC Drop Ship – December 19th

DDU Drop Ship – December 22nd

Remember, all mail addressed to military Post Offices overseas is subject o certain conditions or restrictions regarding content, preparation and handling. You can check with your local Post Office or online at www.usps.com.

At Burns we have many non-profit customers.  We recommend that the annual appeals go out in November to avoid all the volume of mail that occurs in December.  The fall mailings typically are the most successful appeals campaigns for non-profit organizations.

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It seems to be the common thought that digital media is the way to go.  Not so fast, it has now been suggested by neuroscience research,  that a greater emotional processing is facilitated by physical material that you can hold in your hand than by viewing virtual media.  The research was conducted by Millward Brown and Bangor University  for the United Kingdom’s Royal Mail.

The research was done using MRI’s of the brain and how the participants reacted to a printed piece of advertising versus a virtual image on a screen.  It suggested that physical material is more real to the brain and better connected to memory.  They also found that physical material involves more emotional response than virtual.  That means that the real experience is better at becoming part of memory.  That is what we want when we send out a message.. we want the recipient to remember the message and remember the sender.

From all that I can read and have studied, it appears that to have a well rounded campaign that you need to use both direct mail and digital media.  Direct mail gives the recipient something to hold in their hand or put aside to look at a later date or put in a drawer so that if they need that service later they know who to call. I have done that myself and actually gone back to get the post card for the number when I have needed the service.

I would like to see how my brain reacts when I am eating warm cinnamon rolls.  It would come up happy, happy, happy.

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The USPS is awaiting a decision from the Postal Regulatory Commission on their request for rate increases in 2012.  The have the option of ;

• Approve the changes as submitted
• Approve the price changes with modifications
• Deny the entire request

If the approve the rate increase it will take affect in January 2012. The following is the proposed rate increase.

• Letter (1 oz.) – 1 cent increase to 45 cents
• Letters additional ounces – unchanged to 20 cents
• Postcards – 3 cent increase to 32 cents
• Letters to Canada or Mexico (1 oz.) – 5 cent increase to 85 cents
• Letters to other international destinations – 7 cents increase to $1.05

Since the rate increase would take affect in January 2012 if approved, I expect that a decision will be made shortly.

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A couple of years ago, I was thinking about mailing a calendar to our customers but I was a little worried about how much the postage would be for each calendar.  We were working on a 6×11 post card at the time and it hit me that if the calender was a 6×11  it would mail out at a letter rate. So that is how our 6×11 yearly planner came to be.  Since it qualifies for presorted standard letter rate the postage is only between .196 to .273.  The same rate you would pay for a #10 envelope mailing as presorted standard.

If you would like a 6×11 calendar/planner for your customers, Burns can customize it for your company, including using you photographs and copy.  To get started call us today at 865 584-2265 or toll free at 866 288-5618.  It will be 2012 before we know it.

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