We hope you are well and weathering this storm. I’d like to provide an update on what we are hearing and working on:
Catalog Industry Status During COVID-19 Lockdown
Our merchant membership basically segments into two groups: a) those who are cutting mail circulation because sales are up, but they can’t keep up with demand and b) those whose sales have been decimated by the crisis and cannot justify the postage spend until dollars per book and response rates recover.
To best serve you, we need to find out further specifics about what is happening with your business. With that in mind, please watch for our survey arriving in your inbox later today and complete it ASAP so we can gather granular details on the status of each member company. We’d like to validate some ideas we are working on with the (b) group above to see if these might be helpful. Ideally, we figure out ways to increase the universe of mailable names for a real post-crisis relaunch but prospecting remains the holy grail.
Postal Service Update
You’ve probably heard numerous stories of the USPS running out of cash as early as June. The situation is dire. Mail volumes have been falling every day. But there have also been erroneous reports. ACMA staff participate with industry leaders on thrice-weekly update calls from postal officials. Yesterday’s call was led by Postmaster General Megan Brennan and general counsel Tom Marshall. Here’s what we learned:
She and her executive team recently met virtually with the House Oversight Committee and requested $75 billion, which includes $25B for funding the two-year COVID-19 losses, $25B to modernize postal infrastructure (vehicles, facilities, etc., many of which are “shovel-ready” or create long-term employment and can stimulate to the economy) and a consolidated debt facility of $25B (the existing $15B facility plus the $10B debt contained in rescue package III). The ACMA and other prominent industry groups are working behind the scenes to ensure that your interests are protected as negotiations for a Phase IV rescue package continue in Washington.
The Postal Service officials also acknowledged that these are mere projections and that the above does not solve the USPS’s long-term business model challenges or its need for regulatory and legislative relief that postal leadership has long been calling for. The president’s recent press conference where he indicated the Postal Service would be fine if it simply raises package prices “a lot” has complicated our situation. It is obviously a politically charged environment impacting any COVID-19 related relief the USPS gets. We do not need to flame these fires, but this is a good time to write your Members of Congress asking for attention to an industry bigger than the airlines that does $1.5 trillion and employs 7.3 million. We ask for a reasonable bipartisan solution as in the best interests of America.
Postal officials note that leadership from the House and Senate in combination with the Administration will determine what is done ultimately, but that the entire bipartisan USPS board of governors unanimously adopted this set of requests.
Does this mean the mail will stop? We don’t believe so – here’s why: If we approach such a doomsday scenario in September in which the USPS announces a forthcoming temporary stoppage of mail processing and delivery, Congress knows it can’t let that happen. What’s more, the American post office is one of the few federal services specifically mentioned in the Constitution.
Take Action
Did we mention that now is a good time to bolster your relations with elected officials? Below are links to specific letter templates, all relevant to the current situation. Please click on the letter most appropriate to you, add your business information as you see fit, then email it to your congressmen and senators right away. Click this link to help you find contact information for House members in your company’s district(s).
We’re Here to Help You
While everyone is managing cash flow and some of you are busy managing supply chains, ACMA is focused on helping you get accurate information amongst all the confusion as well as out-of-the-box thinking about how we can help suffering companies restart their cash flows now and post-crisis. If your sales are down right now and you want to engage with us in discussing some of the alternatives we are exploring, we would love to hear from you. If you are a supplier member who has clients and has possible solutions to help, we would like to talk to you too.
ACMA National Forum
We hope you noticed that we have moved our 13th Annual National Forum to September 8-10 from the previously announced June dates. Given what is happening, it is certain to be a vibrant and action-packed meeting and we hope you will plan to join us in Washington.
Thank you for your continuing support and involvement and please watch for our survey.
Sincerely,
Hamilton Davison
President & Executive Director
American Catalog Mailers Association
hdavison@catalogmailers.org
Price range: $100.00 through $250.00
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.
Restricted Status: Each Fund will be separately administered as restricted under the direction of the ACMA Board of Directors by the ACMA Treasurer and our association accountant. An elected Officer from the Executive Committee or the ACMA Board will authorize disbursements. Details on expenditures will be made available to any material contributor on request. Restricted funds may be released only upon authorization of the benefactor or in the event the contributing entity is defunct, by vote of the ACMA Board.
Use of Funds: Moneys from each fund may be used for hiring lobbyists, economists, attorneys, consultants, public relations or government relations personnel, conducting research or other surveys highlighting positions favorable to cataloging, supporting coalitions or other groups allied to our positions, paying for advertising aimed at influencing elected officials or other stakeholders, organizing grass roots outreach, education or advocacy in support of public policy positions or for other tactics favorable to ACMA policy positions. Money raised will not be used to support any political candidate or political party; these moneys must come from a Political Action Committee.
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.
