To All With Catalog Interests:
While mailers are still reeling from the postal exigency ruling from three weeks ago, it could very easily go from bad to worse unless we act quickly and aggressively. Yesterday, Senators Tom Carper (D-DE) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) agreed on a proposal for postal reform legislation. In it, the rates and governance section (Section 301), revised from last year, contains language that could lead to far-worse rate hikes than the 4.3% exigency increase, while freeing the USPS up to make final rate decisions, effectively stripping the powers of its regulator. It’s imperative that the industry respond in a forceful way to oppose Section 301.
Take Action Today (as in, January 17th, 2014 – today)
Your message is simple: The industry is strongly opposed to Section 301 as outlined in the proposal by Senators Carper and Coburn. This section would make permanent the 4.3% rate increase sought by the Postal Service as an exigent rate increase. What’s more, it would further allow annual increases of CPI + 1% on top of that exigent increase.
As for governance, the section also would effectively remove the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) from an active role in reviewing and deciding on rate proposals. That will give the USPS, a federal monopoly, full unilateral control over its rate setting process.
As you may recall, Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) has been leading an effort to strike Section 301 from the bill. But with Section 301 now beefed up making it far worse, ACMA is urging ALL catalogers and suppliers to immediately contact the Senate offices listed below to express opposition to this section and demonstrate your support for Baldwin’s amendment to strike it.
Your Core Message
Please take note of the last of these bullet points. ACMA and the broader mailing industry group we partner with, the Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service, supports the rest of the proposed Senate reform bill, provided Section 301 is eliminated. It’s effective to note that when urging your senator to support the Baldwin Amendment.
Who To Contact
Please contact the following Members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee if you have any sort of presence in their states – namely your headquarters, fulfillment center, clusters of employees, suppliers, etc.: Tom Carper, Chair; Tom Coburn, Ranking Member; Carl Levin (D-MI); John McCain (R-AZ); Mark Pryor (D-AR); Ron Johnson (R-WI); Mary Landrieu (D-LA); Rob Portman (R-OH); Claire McCaskill (D-MO); Rand Paul (R-KY), Jon Tester (D-MT); Mike Enzi (R-WY); Mark Begich (D-AK); Kelly Ayotte (R-NH); Tammy Baldwin (D-WI); Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND).
Other Senate Targets
Also, contact the following key senators: Kay Hagan (D-NC); Al Franken (D-MN); Jeff Merkley (D-OR); Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH); Joe Manchin (D-WV); Mitch McConnell (R-KY); Susan Collins (R-ME); Lindsey Graham (R-SC); Jeff Sessions (R-AL).
All this has the potential to ultimately make the December exigency ruling look like a walk in the park. Mailers must make their voice heard immediately as we expect this may move quickly. So whether you’re an ACMA member or not, if you care about the future affordability of catalogs in the mail, you must act now – do not delay. Please be sure to cc action@catalogmailers.org if you contact your Senator via email. As always, Paul Miller and I are available to help you – please don’t hesitate to ask.
Sincerely,
Hamilton Davison
President & Executive Director
American Catalog Mailers Association
www.catalogmailers.org
Direct: 1-800-509-9514
hdavison@catalogmailers.org
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You can assist with specific areas of ACMA’s program of work by providing much-needed resources dedicated to a particular issue. Our Industry Action Funds are segregated accounts held by ACMA, made available as a “war chest” to deploy on specific issues that impact direct and remote marketers and their suppliers — eliminating the time and effort needed to raise funds in the heat of battle.
Please note that your contributions to ACMA Action Funds will not be used for any general ACMA “corporate purposes” other than a 5% service fee on funds raised and administered. Non-ACMA members are always eligible to make one-off donations. Such contributions support our network of consultants on whom we depend to advocate for the interests of direct and remote marketers and their suppliers. These funds are only used to pay for out-of-pocket expenses of the specific issues outlined below. Large volume donors may be considered for Steering Committees of each Fund. Click here for more information on how the funds are distributed and used.
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Lynn Noble is ACMA’s Vice President, Industry Relations, having joined the ACMA in May 2015, following an extensive direct marketing career in private industry as well as the US Postal Service. He is responsible for leading the membership development efforts for the ACMA through new member acquisitions and providing enhanced member value.
Throughout his career, Lynn has held key marketing & sales positions with several leading direct marketers, as well as several high-level management positions with the US Postal Service.
In 2009, at the request of the ACMA, the US Postal Service initiated a new position of Catalog Manager to lead the Service’s efforts to stabilize and grow the catalog industry. Lynn returned to the USPS to lead those efforts and was instrumental to developing a stronger industry partnership between the Postal Service and the catalog industry. Serving as the product manager for catalogs, Lynn helped to raise the awareness of catalog-specific business challenges within the executive ranks of the USPS. During his tenure, the ACMA and catalog companies enjoyed a collaborative and progressive environment that produced more stabilized rates and inclusion in key USPS promotional opportunities.
Just prior to joining the ACMA Lynn was the USPS’s Manager, Strategic Account Operations, leading a team of senior sales professionals who focused exclusively in the Catalog, Mail Order, and E-commerce arena. In addition to his Postal positions, Lynn previously held key positions with leading direct marketing companies, including Cox Target Media, Market Logic, Catalina Marketing, Freesamples.com, and Advantage Direct.
Named Vice President & Deputy Director in January 2010, Miller came to the ACMA following a lengthy career of more than two decades following the catalog/multichannel/e-commerce/retail businesses. Reporting to ACMA president & executive director Hamilton Davison, Miller oversees marketing and communications, membership development, and organizes and oversees ACMA’s National Catalog Forum, while working with Davison on most of ACMA’s postal-related efforts.
Miller started his career as a reporter with Catalog Showroom Business, following a form of retailing that was led by the likes of the Service Merchandise and Best Products retail chains.
After several years of editor/reporter roles with business magazines that followed the toy and gift industries, Miller was named associate editor of Catalog Age magazine (now Multichannel Merchant) in 1986. He rose up the ranks at Catalog Age over the next 18 years to be the magazine’s senior news editor.
Beginning in the late ’80s, Miller became Catalog Age’s postal beat reporter, where he’d follow key postal events and pull out the key catalog mail-related issues for readers. During that time, he attended many Mailers Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC) meetings and National Postal forums.
After leaving Catalog Age in 2004, Miller consulted with several catalogers and multichannel suppliers for a time, he was named news/website editor at Commercial Property News. Less than a year later, he was asked to take the reigns at Catalog Success (now All About ROI) where he served as editor-in- chief from 2006 till the end of 2009.
ACMA appointed Michael K. Plunkett as its President and Executive Director in January 2024, succeeding founder Hamilton Davison. Mr. Davison moved on to own and run a company. Mr. Plunkett brings years of executive leadership experience having been the President and CEO of the Association for Postal Commerce (PostCom) since 2017. In the newly-formed dual role, he will continue his current role with PostCom and the two organizations will operate separately.
During his tenure, PostCom has continued to lead the mailing and shipping industry on policy and regulatory matters and to work with Government agency partners to advance issues of importance to members. Mr. Plunkett is also President of the Delivery Technology Advocacy Council, a nonprofit launched in 2020 to concentrate on delivery and logistics technologies.
Prior to PostCom, Mr. Plunkett accumulated more than 25 years Postal experience with the United States Postal Service in numerous executive roles in operations, marketing, product development and pricing. As a leader within the Postal Service’s management team, Mr. Plunkett developed a well-earned reputation for innovation by leading efforts to develop pricing agreements for domestic services and in the development of the forever stamp and the priority mail flat rate box.
Mr. Plunkett has testified on pricing and policy issues before the Postal Regulatory Commission and Congressional subcommittees. He has authored and presented papers on postal policies, economics, and operations for National and International conferences.
Mr. Plunkett holds Masters Degrees in Business from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a Sloan Fellow. He earned a Bachelor Degrees in Economics and Finance from the Pennsylvania State University.
