Cost
Newspaper Association Kills Off Print Magazine — Goes Online Only
I think the comments to this blog are actually more interesting than the story. Seems most don’t care about the printed piece!
Failures by Mike Masnick
Thu, Apr 30th 2009 2:25am
From techdirt http://techdirt.com/articles/20090429/1827544698.shtml
The Newspaper Association of America, who just recently has been out pushing the value of a print product as opposed to an online-only product, seems to not be taking its own advice. According to Romenesko, the NAA has not only laid off nearly 50% of its staff, but it’s also switching its own print magazine to an online-only production. Seems difficult to take the group seriously when it claims print is somehow fundamentally a better product, doesn’t it?
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by Matthew – Apr 30th, 2009 @ 6:01am
Actually, I don’t find this behaviour especially hypocritical. I happen to agree that print magazines are somewhat higher value to me than online publications. Most people would agree, though, that online publishing is LESS EXPENSIVE than print publishing. It could well be that, despite print being a superiour format, they’ve opted to go all-online in order to reduce costs. (One could disagree with their assessment of the value of print; I’m just saying, it’s not hypocrisy.)
You’re Right
by kirillian – Apr 30th, 2009 @ 7:22am
You’re Definitely Correct. Print does provide more value – it provides thermal insulation for those that can’t afford more expensive material to keep themselves warm…and SOMEONE has got to provide the fuel for all those trash can fires…
define fundamentally
by Stray Dog – Apr 30th, 2009 @ 7:28am
only when you want to line the bottom of a birdcage or some other task,, no this is not multi tasking, it’s recycling
Print
by Rick – Apr 30th, 2009 @ 7:52am
Disagree. Print still has value and I still enjoy reading while turning actual pages, but perhaps being a lithographer since 1970 has colored my judgement.
Another Delay for Intelligent Mail?
From the Dead Tree Edition
Monday, April 27, 2009
With the Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMb) program veering off the tracks, prominent mailers called for the U.S. Postal Service to hit the brakes today on the much-delayed program.
“There is a general consensus that even if the USPS stays with their commitment of May 18 it will be almost impossible for the program to begin in a successful manner,†says a memo written by Jack Widener, a respected industry consultant, that Idealliance released today to its members. Widener, a former Newsweek executive, chairs the IMb users group for the major trade association.
Dead Tree Edition has previously noted that IMb, a major strategic initiative for the Postal Service, is “a train wreck waiting to happen” because of failures in coordination, communication, and planning.
Mailers and their vendors complain that the rules and procedures for IMb are still in a state of flux. Even today, the complex and critical “Service Type Identifier Matrix†in one USPS document contained the qualifier, “Final Revision will be completed as soon as possible.
“When will the changes stop so the program can by implemented by USPS,†Widener wrote. “There are 11 open issues that are not assigned and that must be resolved with only 21 days to go.â€
Among the “show stoppers†listed by another report Idealliance sent to members today is one that would force Periodicals-class co-mail participants either to “leap to electronic payment without sufficient testing or pull out of co-mail/co-pall.†The report lists other restrictions for various classes of mail on co-palletization, co-mail, palletization, and firm bundling that would result from glitches in programs related to IMb.
Perhaps postal executives realize, Widener writes, what even their underlings admit — that USPS will not be ready on May 18 date.
If so, he argues that they should “tell us now so that all can plan accordingly and alert their customers and suppliers in the mailing supply chain. And don’t blame it on their customers; if they do this it will be not due to lack of mailer preparation. We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and invested people’s time to implement as soon as information was received from the USPS. But we must be given adequate time to implement the numerous changes that are happening.”
Spain’s Banco Santander Makes a U.S. Deposit
This is a great article about the power of data modeling and analytics and the amazing effect it can have on a business, from Business week, April 15th.
With its Sovereign Bancorp purchase, Santander takes its strong acquisitions record to the American market
Madrid – Spain’s Banco Santander has every right to be smug. While rivals were jumping into investment banking and complex derivatives, Santander stuck largely to its plain-vanilla retail operations in Europe and Latin America. That extra-safe strategy helped Santander rack up $11.7 billion in profits last year even as its peers were hemorrhaging cash.
One place Santander has largely avoided is the U.S., but that’s about to change. The bank in October paid $1.9 billion for the 75% of Reading (Pa.)-based Sovereign Bancorp (SOV) that it didn’t own already. Emilio BotÃn, Santander’s 74-year-old chairman, plans to use Sovereign’s 747 branches and 2 million customers in the Northeast to muscle his way into U.S. retail banking. That will involve spending some $400 million by 2012 to upgrade back-office technology, retrain staff in marketing techniques, and consolidate a far-flung management team. The deal will make the U.S. Santander’s No. 3 deposit base, behind Britain and Spain.
While the expansion may be a gamble in these tough economic times, Santander has a strong track record in acquisitions. In Spain, Britain, and Latin America, the bank has followed a similar strategy: Buy a small stake in a local player to get to know a market, then jump on bigger game when they come up for sale. In the past two years, Santander has spent some $31 billion on nine deals across three continents. “BotÃn always has been a hunter,” says Robert Tornabell, former dean of ESADE Business School in Madrid.
But cracks are appearing just as BotÃn embarks on this U.S. adventure. In 2008 the bank’s nonperforming loans doubled, to $8.9 billion—2% of Santander’s portfolio—and they’re expected to double again this year as Spain, Britain, and Brazil hit the skids. A $3.1 billion loss related to Bernard Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme also has tarnished the bank’s credibility. “Even Santander’s conservative retail banking model won’t do well in the current climate,” says José Manuel Campa, a finance professor at IESE Business School in Madrid.
Not so, says Santander Chief Financial Officer José Antonio Alvarez. He says bad-loan provisions—mandated by Spain’s central bank—will ensure that Santander can weather the crisis. He also notes that Santander has a healthier loan book than most of its rivals. “We only invest in markets that we understand well,” Alvarez says.
And BotÃn knows how to squeeze every last dollar, euro, and pound from customers. Branch managers use in-house technology, dubbed Parthenon, that provides constant updates on clients. The system analyzes accounts and suggests products, such as credit cards or home equity loans, that customers are likely to want. And it flags clients who are falling behind so the branch can work out a payment plan. “We know who pays and doesn’t pay, and the exact services to sell,” Esther Sanchez, a manager with Santander unit Banesto in Madrid, says as she thumbs through client files.
GROWING PAINS
Santander plans to replicate the strategy at Sovereign. Last year productivity at 30 branches around Philadelphia jumped by 50% when managers started using Santander’s selling techniques. That pilot program has been expanded across all Sovereign branches, a move Santander expects could net the bank $215 million in savings over the next three years.
Still, Sovereign carries some risks. Santander already has written down $2 billion of Sovereign’s questionable assets. And the Spaniards want to get rid of a further $10 billion in loans by yearend. Despite those growing pains and its troubles back home, Santander remains confident about the U.S. “It’s not about luck,” says Juan RodrÃguez Inciarte, the bank’s strategy chief. “We make decisions at the right time.”
Finnish postal union to go ahead with stoppage
So check this out, at least I never recall the USPS stopping delivery on mail. See it can always get worse!
The Finnish Post and Logistics Workers´ Union (Pau) is to stage a six-hour stoppage on Wednesday, leading to delays in postal services for the rest of the week.
The union maintains that there is ambivalence about whether permanent unemployment pension could be treated as a legitimate outcome in cooperation procedure talks in government-owned companies like Itella, formerly known as Finland Post.
Jyri Häkämies (cons), the minister in charge of ownership policy, had previously approved permanent unemployment pension as a legitimate option.
Itella said last week it wanted to cut some 390 jobs.
The Nation Gets Serious About Coupons
People still love the coupons, try using them in your next direct mail package
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
A team of very nonscientific researchers has finally discovered one thing that can distract the nation from Britney Spears: coupons.
According to Google, searches for coupons have outstripped those for the pop train wreck since 2008.
In addition, Coupons.com reported that Washington area residents printed $2.85 million worth of coupons last month. The top items were ready-to-eat cereal, baby products and baking ingredients.
“A lot of my readers are now out of work,” said Ashley Nuzzo, who runs the blog Frugal Coupon Living. “A lot of my readers are trying to make it from day to day.”
She started “couponing” a year ago when she decided to stay at home with her new baby and the family had to live off her husband’s salary. The blog began as a resource for her friends and family, who demanded to know how she found her phenomenal deals: Nuzzo estimates that she saves about $1,000 a month on groceries and toiletries.
Traffic to her site exploded as the economy tanked. Then Dr. Phil asked her on his show in February, and she’s been swamped ever since. Here are some of her secrets:
– Don’t spend it right away. Wait for a sale and then double down by using your coupon, as well. For example, Nuzzo found a $4 coupon recently for a razor that normally costs $9.99. She waited — and when the razor went on sale for $4.99, she got it for 99 cents.
– Stay organized. Ashley enters all of her receipts into Excel and tracks her monthly expenditures, as well as her savings. She and her husband stay away from credit and debit cards. Ashley said cash keeps her accountable and is harder to hand over to a salesperson.
– Set a bar. As a rule of thumb, Ashley refuses to buy anything unless it is discounted by at least 70 percent or costs less than $1.
– Ylan Q. Mui
Survey: CMOs Not Happy With Digital
April 18, 2009
By Todd Wasserman
CMOs see digital as the medium of choice in this economy, but aren’t getting what they want out of it, according to a new survey from Heidrick & Struggles.
In December, the Atlanta recruiting firm polled 111 senior marketing executives at firms with $1 billion or more in annual revenues about their digital strategies. The impetus, said Lynne Seid, partner in the firm’s global consumer practice, were comments from H&S clients expressing frustration over the fact that so much information exists online about consumers—like their search and social media behavior—and yet marketers felt they were accessing it poorly.
Information on existing customers is especially valuable since in the current down economy, many are focusing on retaining such customers, and cross-selling and up-selling to them, in addition to trying to win over new customers.
Respondents to the survey found their current ability to access ROI and metrics on their digital marketing lacking and rated their companies behind the curve. Many said they would have to look outside the company for help, whether that means hiring new employees or relying on ad agencies—though the marketers said they weren’t happy with their current agencies either.
Time after time in the survey, marketers expressed an awareness of digital’s potential along with a recognition that they weren’t close to tapping it.
For instance, one of the selling points of digital media is its ability to let marketers respond quickly to new opportunities, but only 16 percent of respondents rated themselves “very satisfied†with their ability to do so. Fifty-one percent said they were “somewhat satisfied.â€
On a more granular level, the respondents rated marketing ROI, Web behavioral analyses and CRM as the most important parts of their digital marketing mix. Not many marketers thought that they were good at those functions at this point. Only 18 percent said they were “very satisfied†with their ROI analysis, only 13 percent said the same of their CRM program and 19 percent were happy with their search engine optimization.
There was also some debate over who has responsibility for analytics like Web traffic and usage reports. Most marketing departments are currently handling those functions, but they would like to fob it off on IT. Though search marketing also scored high, pulling up the rear on that list were blogs, social networking tools and mobile advertising.
On the bright side, most respondents thought they had Webinars down pat and they were fairly confident in their ability to execute online surveys and contests. On the other hand, most rated their ability to pull off mobile ads and video ads fairly low.
For what ever reason, marketers think their companies are behind the curve on digital marketing, but they don’t see themselves that way. “That’s called ‘irony,’†Seid said. Their agency partners are another story. Fifty-five percent disagree with the statement: “We trust our ad agency partner to provide us with the digital marketing expertise that we need.â€
Seid said the big takeaway from the survey is that there’s still enormous room for improvement for most companies’ digital marketing strategies.
“What I’m hearing anecdotally is there are now sometimes half a dozen digital agencies and suppliers specializing in social media and search,†Seid said. “We don’t have anyone managing, integrating and demanding best practices in those areas.†Seid envisions a “digital CMO†taking responsibility for managing those disciplines. Said Seid: “That will be the CMO of the future.â€
BookSwim: Netflix for books?
by Peter Glaskowsky
A new Web-based rental service called BookSwim describes itself as Netflix for books.
After checking it out, that seems to be a fair enough summary.
The pricing doesn’t seem to be quite as good a deal as Netflix; the fees are slightly higher and the average price of books is somewhat lower than for movies. But it’s in the ballpark.
For example, BookSwim offers a subscription with three books out at a time for $19.98 per month. BookSwim covers shipping both ways via U.S. Postal Service media mail, though books over two pounds do carry an extra fee based on the actual difference in postage.
This is not too far away from the three-DVD subscription from Netflix for $16.99 per month, also with free shipping.
BookSwim is aimed at high-volume readers; its plans go up to 11 books at a time for $39.94 per month.
BookSwim has an additional requirement that is probably a consequence of the media mail rate schedule. Customers must return multiple books at a time, depending on the service plan: 2 or 3 for the 3-book subscription, 4 or more for the 11-book subscription. Then BookSwim ships multiple books at a time to the customer.
I was curious about the weights of books, so I grabbed a few Larry Niven/Jerry Pournelle novels off my recently read stack and weighed them on my kitchen scale:
Fallen Angels (with Michael Flynn) in paperback: 0.48 pounds
Inferno in trade paperback: 0.51 pounds
Escape from Hell in hardcover: 1.27 pounds
It looks like paperbacks will never exceed the two-pound mark. However, I can see larger hardcovers getting into excess-weight fees, especially technical nonfiction:
GPU Gems 3 by Hubert Nguyen: 3.8 pounds
Physically Based Rendering by Matt Pharr and Greg Humphreys: 5.77 pounds
Fortunately, the fees would be low: only an extra $1.40 each way for the latter book based on the published media mail rates, cheap compared with its current $74.36 price on Amazon.com.
One might think about using BookSwim to rent textbooks. At $120 for four months’ use of seven textbooks, this would be a great idea…except they thought of it first, and they don’t do that. BookSwim has a separate service to help students find textbooks, but it’s nothing like the regular subscriptions; mostly it consists of referring customers to BookRenter.com, where textbooks rent for a large fraction of their retail price.
In its online media kit, BookSwim addresses the obvious question: why not just go to a library?
The company’s answer includes these main points: no late fees, 24-hour browsing, a wider selection, less waiting for popular titles, and no need to leave home.
I’m not persuaded by all of these reasons. I don’t believe BookSwim’s selection is as wide as a major city library. The Martin Luther King Jr. Library here in San Jose claims a collection of over 1.5 million items. And its catalog can be searched online, like most libraries these days. BookSwim’s selling points probably mean more to customers who don’t have a big library nearby.
I suspect the waiting-list and convenience issues will favor one side or the other, depending on the customer and the books they’re reading.
The page also says this about BookSwim’s selection: “Can’t find a book on BookSwim.com? Let us know and we’ll buy it!”
If I really believed that was true without restriction, I’d sign up in a hurry, since there are many more technical books I’d love to read that are way out of my price range. Rare books would be another great way to take advantage of this promise, and it would also seem to provide a way to get textbooks through BookSwim. The promise doesn’t appear in the company’s Terms of Use agreement, however, so it probably isn’t meant to be taken literally.
All in all, BookSwim seems like a pretty good deal for avid readers. It seems to make the most sense for people who like to read popular, new hardcover books, especially if they read a lot, don’t care to keep all the books they read, and prefer to use their spare time for reading rather than running to the library.
That summary may sound like a narrow market, but it fits me pretty well, and I think it could make a decent business for BookSwim.
Peter N. Glaskowsky is a technology analyst for The Envisioneering Group. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Old Navy, Chrysler, Palm among Top 12 Brands Likely to Disappear
Goodbye old friend
From Marketing Charts, April 20, 2009
As the recession deepens, economic forces continue to drive consolidation in the retail industry, debt comes due and increasingly discerning consumers buckle down on discretionary spending, an analysis by 24/7 Wall Street predicts that a number of well-known brands are likely to disappear before the end of 2010.
To determine which brands are most likely at risk, 24/7 Wall Street examined 100 large brands it believes are in trouble and, for each, looked at public financial records, sales information, analyses from industry experts, the competitive landscape in each’s industry and the likelihood that a brand could be sold off in the case of parent-company financial trouble.
The analysis points to the most serious peril for the following 12 brands which, 24/7 Wall Street says are most likely to disappear by the end of 2010:
1. Budget rental cars: Though Budget’s parent company currently says it will continue to operate both the Avis and Budget brands, increasing debt problems, a weakening travel industry and intensifying competition will nonetheless cause the demise of the Budget brand, 24/7 Wall Street predicts.
2. Borders books: Declining sales, heavy losses and pressure from competitors Barnes & Noble and Amazon – especially from new e-book readers – may prove too much for the brand when large amounts of debt come due in April 2010.
3. Crocs footwear: The decline in stock price from $72 per share in late 2007 to $2 today, ongoing financing issues, consumer belt-tightening and the end of a fad, leads to to 24/7 Wall Street’s declaration that “Crocs won’t make it through the year.â€
4. Saturn vehicles: As General Motors faces bankruptcy, 24/7 Wall Street said it will almost certainly shutter the brand, whose sales dropped 59% in the first quarter of 2009.
5. Esquire Magazine : While the Esquire brand is plagued with ad revenue declines and intense competition in the crowded men’s-magazine market, parent company Hearst faces problems on both the newspaper and magazine fronts and will not hesitate to close down underperforming brands such as this one to bolster its overall position.
6. Old Navy apparel: 24/7 Wall Street said that parent company Gap – which currently markets the Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic brands – is “a three-brand company living in a two-brand body†and cannot continue to sustain all three in the midst of steep, across-the-board sales declines. Old Navy, which is the weakest brand, will most likely not survive.
7. Architectural Digest Magazine: Amidst drastic cutbacks in high-end home sales and expensive redecorating, the once-healthy publication has lost 47% of its ad pages this year. Faced with other financial problems in its newspaper and magazine businesses, parent company Conde Nast will not be able to sustain the brand, according to 24/7 Wall Street.
8. Chrysler brand cars: Facing similar problems to GM as it teeters on the edge of bankruptcy, Chrylser LLC will not be able to support product design, manufacturing and marketing for a brand with many less sales that Dodge or Jeep as it gears up for restructuring.
9. Eddie Bauer: Faced with declining sales, a stock price under $1, major debt problems and a CCC- rating, analysts say its lack of differentiation in the marketplace could prove the last straw. 24/7 Wall Street said it could be out of business by mid 2009.
10. Palm: A brand that 24/7 Wall Street says has been “at death’s door for some time,†faces life-threatening competition from RIM and Apple, and can only survive in the unlikely event that it can expand the smartphone market by increasing demand for its “Pre.†Dismal financial results and association with Sprint, the already-#3 US wireless carrier, will spell complete disaster.
11. AIG: The once-venerable insurance giant’s highly publicized financial problems, involvement in the financial crisis and subsequent bailout and indebtedness to the federal government, make it the “one large brand in America which almost everyone would like to see disappear,†according to 24/7 Wall Street. Because many of the company’s operating units do not bear the AIG name, they will continue to do business as they distance themselves from the “toxic†AIG parent brand, which eventually will go away.
12. United Air Lines: As the travel industry faces unprecedented overcapacity in light of the recession, two of the large US carriers will soon need to merge to avoid bankruptcy. While it is not clear yet how such a consolidation will shake out, the stocks of UAL, American and US Air have plummeted. 24/7 Wall Street believes that United – the weakest of the carriers, soon faces a “merger,†which will most likely mean the end of the line for the brand.
Why Every Major Green Group Uses Mail
My kids were recently assigned a project in school about going green. The kids will learn about all different types of pollutants and what they can do to prevent waste and promote a greener planet. Pretty neat project right, I thought so until I started to hear more details. I wish that all the facts surrounding subjects would be presented. The supposition that junk mail or direct mail is a contributor to waste and the loss of forest is quite simply a fallacy. Of course direct mail contributes to waste-about 2%-which goes to landfills and unlike water bottles or diapers does breakdown. And as far as destroying our forests, that is simply not the case. When it comes to forest lands, says The New York Times, “the acreage is essentially the same as it was a century ago, and there is over 30 percent more wood volume per acre than in 1952.” (See: Family Matters, Generational Shifts Loom for Big Tracks of American Woods, June 14, 2007). The following article from the Association for Postal Commerce provides additional insight.
Every major environmental and consumer organization uses the mailstream to raise money, gain members, promote causes and distribute information. Larger groups send out tens of millions of items annually.
When asked if Greenpeace was contributing to the nation’s environmental problems because the group uses direct mail, Peter Bahouth, a former Greenpeace executive director, once told ABC News that “accusing environmental groups of paper pollution is a bit like saying that we need to get the ambulances off the street because they’re loud.”
You can check for yourself by looking at the IRS Form 990 which most non-profit organizations are required to make available to the public. More than 1.5 million non-profit groups are listed at GuideStar.org, and many post their Form 990s for public review.
Why do major ecology groups use the mails? Just take a look at mail and the waste stream.
How much garbage is produced each year?
According to the latest-available figures from the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States produces 13 billion tons of nonhazardous solid waste each year. The EPA calls this material Subtitle D waste. (See: RCRA: Reducing Risk From Waste, EPA, EPA530-K-97-004, September 1997, page 5.)
Thirteen billion tons in the mid-1990s! That seems impossible. Is there an environmental organization with similar numbers?
Yes. As an example, Greenpeace has research showing that we produced 11.3 billion tons of Subtitle D waste in the 1980s.
Also, the Natural Resources Defense Council wrote in 1997 that “the United States produces between 12 and 14 billion tons of waste annually. This includes mining waste, oil and gas waste, agricultural waste, hazardous waste, food-processing residues, demolition debris, incinerator ash, and medical waste, in addition to municipal waste. The management of most of this waste is not regulated by U.S. federal law — it is exempt — and of the total, municipal waste accounts for only about 210 million tons.” (See: Too Good To Throw Away: Recycling’s Proven Record, Chapter 2)
The problem, of course, is that more recent Subtitle D figures are needed to better understand waste issues, information which the EPA has not made available to the public.
What is municipal solid waste?
In general terms, “municipal solid waste” or “MSW” can be seen as a limited number of items which are part of the overall waste stream. As the EPA explains: “MSW — otherwise known as trash or garbage — consists of everyday items such as product packaging, grass clippings, furniture, clothing, bottles, food scraps, newspapers, appliances, and batteries.” (See: Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2005, EPA, page 4)
Does MSW equal all the stuff that goes into local landfills?
No. “Some people assume that ‘municipal solid waste’ must include everything that is landfilled in Subtitle D landfills,” says the EPA, but this is NOT correct. (See: Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2005, EPA, page 25)
“It has been common practice,” says the EPA, “to landfill wastes such as municipal sludges, nonhazardous industrial wastes, residue from automobile salvage operations, and construction and demolition debris along with MSW.” (See: Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2005, EPA, page 25)
But wait a minute. Doesn’t the EPA say that the number of landfills has declined substantially during the past decade?
The EPA says two things: “The number of landfills in the United States is steadily decreasing — from 8,000 in 1988 to 1,654 in 2005. The capacity, however, has remained relatively constant. New landfills are much larger than in the past.” (See: Basic Facts: Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), EPA, June 1, 2007)
In other words, older, smaller and less ecology-secure landfills are being replaced with a small number of larger sites which can benefit from new technologies and better management.
However, the idea that landfill capacity is “relatively constant” is simply wrong. The amount of available landfill capacity is actually growing. As The New York Times has reported:
“It became clear in the early 1990′s that there was a glut of disposal space, not the widely believed shortage that had drawn headlines in the 1980′s.
“Although many town dumps had closed, they were replaced by fewer, but huge, regional ones. That sent dumping prices plunging in many areas in the early 1990′s and led to a long slump in the waste industry.
“Since then the industry and its followers have been relying on time — about 330 million tons of trash went into landfills in the United States last year alone, according to Solid Waste Digest, a trade publication — to fill up some of those holes, erase the glut and send disposal prices skyward again. Instead, dump capacity has kept growing, and rapidly, even as only a few new dumps were built.” (See: Rumors of a Shortage of Dump Space Were Greatly Exaggerated, August 12, 2005)
Where can I get more information regarding the landfill glut?
Press here to see our complete report.
How much MSW is there?
While the overall waste stream consists of some 13 billion tons of nonhazardous materials, MSW is just a small fraction of that amount. In 2005 we generated 245.7 million tons of MSW — 1.89 percent of the non-hazardous waste stream. (See: Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2005, EPA, page 1)
Do 245.7 million tons of MSW go into landfills?
No. MSW in 2005 included 245.7 million tons of material before recycling, composting and energy recovery. The amount left to landfill was 133.3 million tons. (See: Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2005, EPA, page 2)
Aren’t we landfilling more MSW than ever?
No. MSW generation is down. Recycling and composting are both up. The result is that MSW landfill use has declined.
For instance, the EPA reports that we landfilled 133.3 million tons of material in 2005 — that’s down from 134.4 million tons in 1980 — a time when the population was substantially smaller. (See: Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2005, EPA, page 2)
How long will it take to pack our landfills with MSW?
More than MSW goes into landfills, so the issue involves a wider array of waste than MSW by itself. No less important, we are now adding landfill capacity faster than we are using it.
The New York Times has reported that between 2001 and 2005 the nation’s three largest trash collectors — Waste Management, Allied Waste Industries and Republic Services — “buried 882 million tons of waste. But the remaining permitted capacity of their combined 410 dumps did not shrink. It expanded over those four years by more than one billion tons. The three companies now expect expansions of another 1.8 billion tons. At that level, their combined capacity could handle the nation’s trash sent to dumps for about 26 years.” (See: Rumors of a Shortage of Dump Space Were Greatly Exaggerated, August 12, 2005)
Not only are the three largest private companies increasing landfill capacity, the same is also true for other private and public facilities. This is happening because we are landfilling less and also because landfill technology is improving — we can get 30 percent more stuff into a given amount of landfill space than in the past, according to the Times. Equally important in the case of paper-based materials, scrap that used to be landfilled is now being exported to China.
Will we soon run out of landfill capacity?
No. In their 2005 annual reports, the three major collection and disposal companies told the Securities and Exchange Commission that they have enough landfill capacity today to last for decades — without further expansion.
We will develop new landfill sites using the latest and best environmental techniques — certainly as good as the technologies we use today and no doubt better. However, efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle should continue not only because they limit landfill needs, but because such practices are inherently good for the environment and for us all.
If annual Subtitle D waste totals 13 billion tons or more, why have we not run out of landfill space already?
Because much of the “waste stream” is nonhazardous industrial and production water, mining debris and agricultural waste that is left in place and not landfilled.
Is there any source which shows billions of tons of Subtitle D waste broken into categories by weight?
Yes. An official 1988 EPA study entitled, “Report to Congress: Solid Waste Disposal in the United States,” (EPA/530-SW-88-011) details Subtitle D categories. On page 11, Volume 1, is a table showing more than 11,387 billion tons of waste, including 158 million tons of MSW. In 1988, of course, we had a population of 244,498,982, while today our population has increased by more than 55 million people.
How much MSW is in the form of paper products?
Paper and paperboard products amounted to 84 million tons in 2005. However, paper-based products have traditionally had high recovery levels. While the general recovery rate for MSW is 32.1 percent, the recovery rate for paper-based products is 50 percent — meaning 42 million tons were diverted from America’s landfills. (See: Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2005, EPA, page 7)
What’s the biggest paper-based product found in the waste stream?
Paper-based products are divided into two groups by the EPA: non-durable goods (44.91 million tons) and containers and packaging (39.03 million tons). (See: Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2005, EPA, page 37)
Among non-durable goods, newspapers are the largest category at 12.05 million tons. For containers and packaging, the largest category is corrugated boxes at 30.93 million tons. (See: Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2005, EPA, page 37)
How much advertising mail is included within MSW?
Advertising mail totals 5.83 million tons before recycling. However, 2.09 million tons is recycled, a recovery rate of 35.8%. Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2005, EPA, page 37)
So how much of the waste stream is advertising mail?
Using EPA data, as a Nation we have 13 billion tons of Subtitle D waste. We also have — before recovery — 5.83 million tons of advertising mail. In the worst case, advertising mail thus represents 0.000448 of the waste stream — about 4/10,000ths. After recycling, of course, the percentage is even lower.
USPS Offers Discounts for Saturation Mail Campaigns
Direct Newsline
Apr 11, 2009 3:35 PM
While the proposed discounts for high-volume mailers are still in the consideration stage, the U.S. Postal Service has officially rolled out a “Saturation Mail Incentive Programâ€.
Under the terms of the program, marketers who increase their saturation volume can earn per-piece credits. The discounts would be in effect for campaigns dropped between May 11, 2009 and May 10, 2010.
The Postal Service is offering two incentive categories: Total Market, in which mailers increase the volume of saturation letters and flat sent out over a base year’s volume, and Market Specific, in which mailers increase the volume, over the base year, of Saturation Enhanced Carrier Route mail.
The per-piece credit for Standard Mail saturation campaigns is 3.7 cents for regular letters (2.2 cents for nonprofit mailers) and 4 cents for flats (2.4 cents for nonprofit mailers).
The program is open to marketers currently considered saturation mailers. Marketers must have at least a two-year history as Standard Mail saturation mailers. The marketers must have undertaken at least one mailing during 2007, and six mailings during 2008, within their markets.
Mailers must apply for participation at http://ribbs.usps.gov/index.cfm?page=saturationmail. The deadline for applying is June 11.
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