Authors

Frank Romano

Abstract

The United States Postal Service (USPS) is a distributor of print media, and its policies and practices will engender short- and long-term effects on commercial printers, and by extension, their customers (publishers and marketers). Increasing mail rates may force publishers to seek electronic and other alternatives that in turn might lower mail volumes sufficiently to adversely affect Postal Service operations, causing a cycle of rate increases coupled with volume decreases. Simultaneously, electronic bill presentment and payment competes for that class of mail that essentially supports the USPS. These occurrences could threaten the infrastructure that supports universal mail service and could negatively impact the $900 billion printing and mailing industries. It may be that the future lies in the effective distribution of promotional and marketing materials in addition to informational product distribution, as well as an approach that contracts more services to private businesses and partners with other organizations to assure reliable distribution of print media. This paper looks at these and related trends.

Publication Date

2002

Document Type

Full-Length Book

Comments

A Research Monograph of the Printing Industry Center (CIAS) at RIT

Department, Program, or Center

Printing Industry Center (CIAS)

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

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