DMA Calls On UPS to End Stalemate on Postal Reform

Washington, DC, September 29, 2006 — As negotiations continue on postal reform legislation, a debate over Parcel Post rates continues to undermine a final agreement on postal reform legislation.

Despite efforts to forge a compromise, United Parcel Service (UPS) continues to block a final agreement by holding out for a provision in the bill that could result in an increase of up to 40 percent in single-piece Parcel Post rates.

“The question every marketer should be asking today is not “what can brown do for you,” rather “what is brown doing to you,” said DMA President & CEO John A. Greco, Jr. “Failure to pass postal reform means that all mailers will face significantly higher costs that could ultimately result in drastic reductions in mail volume, and further revenue losses for private parcel shippers, the Postal Service, and the many businesses that rely on both.”

DMA supports a “hard cap” that would keep postal rate increases at or below the rate of inflation. This would help all marketers by keeping mailing rates affordable for reaching out to current and potential customers.

DMA is urging its members to contact UPS leadership and express their concerns. More information is available online at www.the-dma.org/postal.

“I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that we send a postal reform bill to the President’s desk for signature,” added Greco. “We are extremely close, and don’t want to see our efforts derailed this late in the game.”

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About DMA

The Direct Marketing Association (www.the-dma.org) is the leading global trade association of businesses and nonprofit organizations using and supporting multichannel direct marketing tools and techniques. DMA advocates industry standards for responsible marketing, promotes relevance as the key to reaching consumers with desirable offers, and provides cutting-edge research, education, and networking opportunities to improve results throughout the end-to-end direct marketing process. Founded in 1917, DMA today represents more than 3,600 companies from dozens of vertical industries in the US and 50 other nations, including a majority of the Fortune 100 companies, as well as nonprofit organizations.

In 2005, companies spent an estimated $161 billion on direct marketing in the United States. Measured against total US sales, these advertising expenditures generated an estimated $1.85 trillion in increased sales in 2005, or 7 percent of the $26 trillion in total sales in the US economy (which includes intermediate sales). All together, direct marketing accounted for 10.3 percent of total US GDP in 2005.

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