Endurance News

["guest@endurance.net" <guest@endurance.net>]

Glenda R. Snodgrass grs@theneteffect.com
<<There is something about bulk mailings that is proving inconsistent.>>

In defense of the postal service, bulk mailing is inherently
inconsistent.  The very nature of bulk mail is that you can receive a
discount on postage when you have a large number of pieces going together,
so that they are moved "en masse" to major distribution points.  When the
bulk is broken up into smaller pieces, you no longer have the _time_
advantage of huge stacks of mail being sent to major distribution 
centers.  You still get the discount, but you pay for it in time.  

The problem with the Endurance News going out bulk mail (or more
accurately, periodicals rate) is quite simply "density."  From California
to the east coast is a lot of traveling, going through a lot of post
office points.  Five thousand total is not enough density to isolate the
mail, particularly when so many are delivered very close to CA and fewer
pass on to other parts of the country.  Each piece has to be worked
individually, mixed in with other people's mail, having little density. It
is broken down many times, taking days to do so.

You can do things to speed up delivery, like drop shipping to major points
or mailing first class to those who are farther away, but those options
would increase the cost.  The mag could be printed and mailed by a
publishing service somewhere in the geographic center of the country.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that the slow delivery time is not because
the postal service is falling down on the job, but rather it's the result
of a small number of mags being mailed at discount rates rather than first
class.

Glenda & Lakota
Mobile, AL
AERC # M18819 & H27310
SE Region