February 2004

Direct Marketing vs. Other Marketing: Part II
The November issue of "News Affecting The Direct Mailer," (http://www.mailcci.com/past_issues/112003.asp) included a comprehensive comparison of popular marketing mediums. News of the inevitable demise of telemarketing is creating optimism in the direct mail and print industries.

The National Do Not Call Registry, the most recent nail in the telemarketing coffin, has grown to 40 million registrants. It is expected that, in 2004, an additional 20 million people will sign up to be protected from telemarketers.

And where will the $30 billion companies annually spend on telemarketing go? Well, consider a recent Vertis survey that found 31% of consumers prefer direct mail over telemarketing, email, and other forms of marketing.

Union President Calls Big Mailers "Vermin"
William Burrus, President of the American Postal Workers Union, wrote the article, "Our Struggle," which ran in the September 2003 American Postal Worker magazine. Burrus'  stabs at the President's Commission on the U.S. Postal Service are well known. The commission was created to ensure a solid future for the USPS and protect universal mail delivery and many people agree that the postal service cannot continue to operate under the antiquated laws of the Postal Reform Act of 1971. But few know that the Postal Reform Act was the result of the postal worker's strike of 1970 and the Postal Reorganization Act of the same year.

Mr. Burrows asserts in his testimony before the President's Commission on the U.S. Postal Service that the USPS's "major problems have been the result of its Governors giving in to the mailing industry at the expense of the Postal Service and the American public."

In various articles and testimonies, Mr. Burrus has said the President's Commission has "declared war on American postal workers and on service to the American public" and their report to the President was a "wish list" of large mailers and "is fundamentally dishonest."

Most shocking of all is Burrus' claim "that the [large] mailers are not allies, but rather are vermin that, given the opportunity, would suck the lifeblood out of every right and benefit that has been achieved." 

Then in the same article, Burrus goes so far as to compare the plight of the postal worker to a victim of a Nazi concentration camp.

Just for the record, the large mailers William Burrus refers to as "vermin" spent $48 billion last year making them the linchpin of a $900 billion domestic mail industry that provides 1 of every 15 jobs in the US.

News Poll
Send your vote to mailto:webmaster@mailCCI.com or vote online. Visit http://www.mailCCI.com and in the Interactive menu choose Today's Survey.

Is your web site just an online version of your business card?
____ Yes
____ No
____ Do Not Have A Web Site

We'll post the poll results here in next month's e-newsletter.
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Results of last month's poll: 

How do you prefer to fold self-mailers?

36% Open At Top
36% Open At Bottom
28% No Preference

See the results of other surveys CCI has conducted online at 
http://www.mailCCI.com/data/surveys.asp.

www.mailCCI.com
Can we improve your web site? Please take a moment to browse the CCI web site at www.mailCCI.com. You may discover that it is not just a web site showcasing direct mail technology. You may be surprised to find that our web site was developed by our own in-house programmers. 

Our web site is a showcase of our internet marketing services as well. MailCCI.com is designed, programmed, marketed and maintained entirely in-house. We've created a site with an immense volume of industry information and resources, well over 300 pages of relevant content, available in 7 languages. We enjoy profligate traffic due to our successful marketing and high search engine rankings. And the site has proven to be a superb channel for sales 
leads and contacts.

Can we improve your web site? Are you using the internet to its full potential? Is your business reaping the benefits of the world wide web? Is your web site just an online version of your business card? Contact us at info@mailcci.com or http://www.mailcci.com/contact.asp or 800-279-2505.