The proposed promotions for 2025 will be part of the rate case submitted for the July postage increase, although the promotions do not go into effect until 2025. The changes are significant, and details are not available yet, and probably won’t be for a few months. Here are the highlights:
- The Informed Delivery promotion will no longer be a stand-alone promotion. It will be available as an “add-on” with other promotions, earning the mailer a 1% discount, and the eDoc submitter the same .5% discount they earned in 2023 and 2024. More on “add-ons” in a moment.
- A new promotion, Sustainability, will also be offered as an “add-on” promotion for an additional 1% discount. To qualify you must use recycled paper that bears an FSC mark, or equivalent.
- Another new promotion, Continuous Contact, will be available for Marketing Mail only. This promotion will offer a 3% discount for multiple mailings to the same household over time. The Postal Service is trying to reinforce the idea that response rates can improve when households get another direct mail effort. The discount will not be on the first mailing to an address but will be on subsequent mailings afterwards.
- The Tactile, Sensory, Interactive promotion will be back, so get ready to fuzz up those mail pieces!
- The Reply Mail IMbA will also be back. This time, participants will have all their QBRM quarterly fees removed. If you use BRM, it is the biggest no-brainer of the bunch.
- Integrated Technology will also be back, although Mobile Shopping is not currently part of it. That may yet change.
- The First-Class Mail Advertising promotion seems very comparable to the existing color transpromo promotion, but we are awaiting details.
Dates and Discounts
Primary Promotions:
- Integrated Technology: 3% discount, pick your favorite six consecutive months, anytime during 2025.
- Tactile, Sensory, and Interactive: 4% discount, February 1 through July 31, 2025.
- Continuous Contact: 3%, dates still to be determined.
- Reply Mail IMbA: 3% - 6%, July 1 through December 31, 2025.
- FCM Advertising: 3%, September 1 through December 31, 2025.
Add-On Promotions:
- Informed Delivery and Sustainability: These promotions will be available year-round but must be added to another primary promotion. For example, a mailer participating in the Continuous Contact promotion will get a 3% discount, but they can also “stack” an Informed Delivery campaign, for an additional 1% discount (plus .5% for the eDoc submitter) AND get an additional 1% discount for participating in the Sustainability promotion, for a total discount of 5%.
Taking Advantage of 2025 Promotions
The new promotion structure offers great opportunities for both mailers and mail service providers. A mailer can, for example, participate in the Tactile, Sensory, and Interactive promotion beginning February 1, earning a 4% discount, and adding 2% with Informed Delivery and Sustainability. When that promotion runs out, they may be able to switch to Integrated Technology, for 3% off, and add Informed Delivery and Sustainability to that promotion.
The mail service provider may have an opportunity to gain a .5% postage credit year-round by helping customers take advantage of the Informed Delivery add-on. It will require more planning, and perhaps a dive into new promotion territory, but the return can be great.
The Postal Service’s goal in stacking promotions like this is to encourage mailers to try new and different promotions. Given the constant stream of postage increases, this is an essential component to clawing some of that postage back.
Please note that these promotions are still proposals and have not yet been approved by the PRC. Details are also scant, so stay tuned for more as they are revealed. We’re also fairly sure that the Reply Mail IMbA promotion is not eligible to be stacked upon.
2024 promotions remain in effect and have not been changed. This article is about next year’s (2025) promotions.