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From a DMM Advisory today, the USPS Summer Sale eligibility has been expanded to include precancelled stamps, meters, and Permit Imprint.  the deadline for enrollemnt is August 1.

Sounds like a last ditch effort to increase particiaption.  Are you taking advantage of the Summer Sale offerings?  Please comment.

DMA applauds USPS summer sale.

USPS Summer Sale Federal Register Final Rule posted here:
http://pe.usps.com/FRN/Summer_Sale.doc

Highlights/Summary:

Program - July 1, 2009-September 30, 2009

• Volume incentive program
• Commercial or Non-Profit Standard Letter and Flats
• For volume mailed between July 1-September 30, 2009 above a USPS-determined threshold level

To Qualify:

• Permit holder
• Permit Owner
• Owner of Mail entered via a Mail Service Provider permit, with supporting documentation
• Volume of 1 million pieces between October 1 2007 - March 31 2008

Mailers will be notified of qualification by USPS letter, alert all possible personnel that they might receive this letter.  The letters will go to whoever Permits are registered to.

If you haven’t gotten a letter and think you should have, or you want to submit some Mail Service Provider documentation for your calculation, contact USPS Summer Sale at summersale@usps.gov.

Paticipants must use volume trends from October 2008 in calculating a projection for 2009, in order to prevent mailers from shifting, rather than adding more mail.

From the DMM Advisory,

Today the Postal Regulatory Commission completed their review of the Summer Sale.

Mailers have until September 30, 2009, to take advantage of the savings.

Federal Register notice provides all of the details.

For more information, contact summersale@usps.gov

From a DMM Advisory today, an advance copy of the Federal Register notice regarding the proposed Summer Sale can be accessed here
http://pe.usps.com/FederalRegisterNotices.asp

It is titled “Standard Mail Volume Incentive Program (aka Summer Sale)”

Important highlights -
To participate, mailers must be the permit holder (i.e. owner) of a permit imprint advance deposit account(s) or the owner of qualifying mail volume entered through the permit imprint advance deposit account of a mail service provider. Qualifying mailers must be able to demonstrate volume of at least one million pieces, within the program qualification period of October 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008, for a permit imprint advance deposit account(s), precanceled stamp permit(s), postage meter permit(s), or by a combination of these methods. Applicants may also qualify for the program with volume mailed through an account(s) owned by a mail service provider, when adequate documentation is provided that specifies the applicant is the owner of the mail. Those mailers eligible to participate in the program will be notified in writing before June 1, 2009. Mailers wishing to participate in the program, who believe they meet the eligibility standards under DMM 709.2.2 and were not notified by letter, may request a review of their eligibility by contacting the USPS at summersale@usps.gov.

Proceed with caution - the PRC has yet to approve this, and has until mid-June to approve, deny, or change the specifics of the program.  Also, this from my NASML colleague Norine Butte, now is the time to comment on the proposal:

“YOUR voice is very important, it more than one combined voice to make a difference!!
Please submit your comments to the Postal Regulatory Commission by May 21st for the USPS summer sale proposal regarding the Standard Mail letters and flats.

The PRC and USPS have encouraged all interested individual mailers to submit comments.”

Please submit comments electronically via the PRC’s Filing Online system at http://www.prc.gov

PRC opens comment period on USPS ’summer sale’ - DMNews.

Notice of Price Adj.SummerSale.pdf

Notice from the USPS to the Postal Regulatory Commission regarding the Summer Sale proposal.

USPS provides more details on ’summer sale’ - DMNews.

Mailers Like Postal Discount Idea, Balk at Timing

Some more details on the USPS proposed “Summer Sale” for Standard Mailers have been trickling out.  The “Summer Sale” pricing flexibility test will be limited to the top 4,000 Standard Mailers, a list which the USPS will be determining.  Also, the discount will be facilitated in the form of a rebate at the end of the sale period.

Once the USPS files the proposal with the Postal Rate Commission, I will share the official details.