DMA Unveils Ad To Spur Congress To Initiate Postal Reform

Ad Includes Revenue and Employment Data by Congressional District

NEW YORK, April 29, 2002 - The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) today unveiled an advertisement to alert members of Congress of the importance of enacting significant postal reform. The ad, which ran as an open letter to Congress on page five in today's Roll Call newspaper, lists revenue and employment figures for each congressional district in the United States, thereby dramatizing the economic resources at risk in each district.

"Sadly, it is now time for Congress to look more carefully at the condition of the Postal Service and its potential impact on a significant segment of the private sector," said H. Robert Wientzen, president and CEO, The DMA. "Members of Congress need to be cognizant of the fact that so many jobs in businesses both small and large are at stake in their home districts which depend on the maintenance of a viable, universal and affordable postal system."

"The work of Congressman McHugh over the past six years has brought focus to the need to modernize the thirty-plus year-old business model that hamstrings postal operations," said Jerry Cerasale, senior vice president, government affairs, The DMA. His drafted legislation on this matter last fall underscores the issue's urgency and offers a reasonable fix that would benefit both the USPS and the mailing community."

"We can go longer simply paper over the serious cracks on the Service’s current legislative foundation," Cerasale continued.

The USPS is bound by a set of 30 year-old laws that provide perverse incentives, which restrict the Postal Service’s ability to operate in the most efficient manner. These mechanisms drive rate increases to exceed acceptable limits, while at the same time severely limits its ability to react to today’s rapidly changing market conditions.

According to figures recently released by the USPS, the Postal Service represents a national universal mail service that connects 280 million people, 125 million households, and 10 million businesses, as it handles almost 700 million pieces of mail per day, including everything from postcards to large packages.

To obtain more information about the advertisement or background on postal reform, please visit www.the-dma.org/postal-reform-now.

The DMA is the leading trade association for businesses interested in interactive and database marketing, with nearly 5,000 member companies from the United States and 53 other nations. Founded in 1917, its members include direct marketers from every business segment as well as the nonprofit and electronic marketing sectors. Included are catalogers, Internet retailers and service providers, financial services providers, book and magazine publishers, book and music clubs, retail stores, industrial manufacturers and a host of other vertical segments, including the service industries that support them. According to a DMA-commissioned study, direct and interactive marketing sales in the United States exceeded $1.86 trillion in 2001, including $118 billion in catalog sales and $30 billion in sales generated by the Internet. The DMA's Web site is www.the-dma.org, and its consumer Web site is www.shopthenet.org.

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