Friday, May 22, 2009

Move it!

According to the Census Bureau, 38.7 million people moved in the United States between 2006 and 2007.

25.2 million stayed in the same county, 7.4 million moved to a different county within the same state, 4.9 million moved to a different state and 1.2 million moved to the U.S. from abroad.

And of course, the Postal Service moves right with them.

We handle plenty of change of address orders. I think we do a pretty efficient job of forwarding mail -- all built into the price of a 44-cent stamp.

What do you think about free forwarding? Comment here.

(thanks to Carla DeKalb for the picture)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe we should start charging a nominal fee. $5 charged would bring over 1 billion in revenue. This is a great feature and people would still be ready to pay this fee and we also save expenses in forwarding free.

Anonymous said...

The Postal Service should charge to forward mail, or just return for a correct address. The Postal Service can not aford to keep doing business the way it is currently.

Anonymous said...

A reasonable fee would make people be more responsible, for quickly notifying their correspondants of their change of address. Also the time frame should be shortened to 6 months forwarding and 6 months return to sender with correct address.

Anonymous said...

We need to start charging per peice for this service. Then maybe people will begin changing their addresses on their own without waiting 18 months for us to help them out with it.

Anonymous said...

These are staggering numbers that new more publicity for true understanding. We deserve a pat on the back.

Anonymous said...

I agree with charging a nominal fee for change of address orders. We already do it with the on-line ones and maybe it would stop people from going back and forth so much.

Anonymous said...

I agree, the Postal Service needs to charge a nominal fee, most other countries do. It would increase revenue and reduce expenditures.

Anonymous said...

YES!! This is a valuable service that we are offering. We really need to be charging for it. On the flip side, some folks will never change their addresses, so that will be something that needs to be factored in.

Anonymous said...

Bad idea to charge. People won't pay it, they'll just notify those senders who are important themselves, and we'll be stuck with millions of UTF mail to return to sender.

It's just a bad marketing decision to start charging for something that's always been free. Like having to pay for air at the gas station, you know you hate that, even if it's only a quarter.

Anonymous said...

I think we should forward the mail for free for the first 6 months. This gives the customer time to let everyone know they moved. After that inital period, forward the mail for an additional 12 months but charge $.20 per piece.

Anonymous said...

I agree. People move and don't let us know where they are. Charging won't help that problem. Maybe a $5 charge to extend an additional 6 months. Esp. good around Christmas (card) time.

Anonymous said...

The postal service should charge for forwarding mail associated with a change of address order. The charge should be $5.00 per individual per month or $13.00 per family per month. Payable up front. Customer decides how long the mail will be forwarded.(Max 12 Mos. same as now. Parcel Post forwarded same as now. I bet after one month 99% of the mail would be addressed directly to the new address. Plus the revenue for the Postal Service would be great and better reflect the cost of forwarding.