Pat Donahoe

The plight of the U.S. Postal Service has been well documented. The federal agency lost nearly $16 billion in its latest fiscal year, and things aren't getting any better this year. In addition to the rejection of legislative changes that the USPS says are critical to its future viability — namely no longer being required to pre-fund retiree health benefits as well as cutting the mail delivery week from six days to five days (Saturday would be the day cut) — the losses keep mounting.

In my role as second-in-command with American Catalog Mailers Association (ACMA), I’m often asked by members what they should do about their catalog marketing programs in light of the current state of calamity facing the nearly bankrupt U.S. Postal Service (USPS).

The two-year-old American Catalog Mailers Association (ACMA) trudges along like a little engine that could. But can it? Despite its newness and relatively tiny membership, this organization has delivered an effective wake-up call to both the USPS and the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) on the plight of catalog mailers, helping foster the recent postal “summer sale.”

The two-year-old American Catalog Mailers Association (ACMA) trudges along like a little engine that could. But can it? Despite its newness and relatively tiny membership, this organization has delivered an effective wake-up call to both the USPS and the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) on the plight of catalog mailers, helping foster the recent postal “summer sale.”