You Didn’t Get Your 2% Postal Discount Last Year…Did You?!?

The 2020 USPS Postal Promotions program is in full swing. Closely following the schedule from 2019, the 2020 program is set to give leading print and mailers some healthy savings on their mailed materials. In fact, 2% for U.S. mailers that send mail as part of an IMb Full-Service mailing. If you think about 2% of a mailed project’s postal cost, it can really add up—that is $2 for every $100 in postage. It can add up fast, especially depending on your volumes.

Now through into August, print and mailers may register for several different postal promotions as posted on the POSTALPRO™ website. The registration periods are staggered, so you will want to check on the program for the exact dates, but generally the Tactile, Sensory, and Interactive Engagement and Emerging and Advanced Technology will be available past the midpoint of the year. There is also an Earned Value Reply Mail promotion for print and mailers that deal with those types of customer replies. That one has a smaller window from the 15th of February to the end of March for registration.

Why is this important…because you might not have received a discount last year! The tactile program was the first out of the gate with registration periods starting in December of 2019. It basically deals with things you can feel. Fold out die-cuts, digital print finishing that incorporates fifth ink stations that you can feel…the dimensional polymers like that from our partners at Konica Minolta through their MGI line up. What people might not know about Solimar is that we have the capability through our post-composition capabilities (read print files already created) to add the separations required to inform the digital finishing devices where to put the embellished inks, foil and more. Probably isn’t the top use case, but if you are a printer that is looking to expand what they can offer and you also do a lot of variable print work, then you could get some additional mileage out of one solution.

Oh, and if you follow the USPS guidelines, the above tactical embellishments on print and mailed pieces could qualify you for the promotion 2% postal discount. Do something others aren’t, stand out to prospective clients and save money. That sounds like a winner to us.

More aligned with what Solimar helps people accomplish everyday though is the technology promotion that runs through the end of August 2020. You can register any time until the end of the program and the USPS generally says they can review and provide an approval for a mailpiece within a week. Like the other promotions, if you add emerging or advanced technology, the credit will be a 2% discount on the postage when using an IMb Full Service mailing.

Now AR may seem complicated, but we can’t stress how easy it can be to get started. In conjunction with our partners at RealityBLU, we have seen many print and mailer successes. In some cases, we have seen a company add AR and drive postal discounts in under three weeks. These same customers have seen enough savings to not only pay for their technology investment, but also plan to participate in the USPS postal promotion again during the 2020 period.

Solimar adds more value to the AR platform by being able to leverage the information in print files to drive personalized or regionalized experiences right in the Augmented Reality experience. What’s more is that this can be done by simply scanning a QR code and having the augmented experience come to life. You don’t even need an app! Now how is that for improving the speed to consumer engagement?

The USPS Promotional Discounts are just the tip of the iceberg too. Through our technology we can also provide access to postal optimization, which can also save you money in high volumes of print and mail. We invite you to read some of our other blogs on how Solimar seeks to make processes better from onboarding of work all the way through to its delivery. Or reach out to us, we are always happy to help you start your journey to a better print and mail environment.