Dale Rothenberger, Vice President, Winters Group & Associates, LLC

The US Postmaster testified before congress earlier this month that the USPS is facing a financial crisis and needs to undertake several major initiatives to survive. In addition to a rate hike, Saturday delivery is to be ended. Many post office facilities will close, and letter carriers will lose their jobs.

The volume of mail has dropped by almost 20% in just three years time. While much of this volume is the shift to on-line bill statements and electronic payment, a large part of this decline is due to the changing habits of consumers. The USPS is asking Congress to give it more flexibility to allow it to adapt to these changing times.

What we are really experiencing is a change in how consumers and businesses wish to be communicated with. For those of us in the marketing communication field who still believe that business is slow due to the recession and once we start seeing growth in the economy our print volumes will return, its time to face reality and see the world is changing around us.

Mail delivery will continue, but at what price? And as prices increase, marketers will look for alternate ways to get their message out to their customers and prospects. Resistance to change is inevitable, but those who can see that choices being made today will change the way we communicate tomorrow, opportunity abounds.

Anytime you get to hear or read information about “integrated cross-media marketing” take advantage of the opportunity to further your education; the payoffs can be huge particularly because you would still be in “first movers” advantageous position.

For more information on The Winters Group & Associates, please visit http://www.wintersmg.com.