Greetings, Humans. Artificial Intelligence and Direct Marketing
March 23, 2023   Dave Lewis
	I love playing with new things, and there are few things newer than ChatGPT.  In case you’re not familiar with it, I asked ChatGPT to describe itself in 50 words or less: ChatGPT is a large language model trained by Open AI that can generate... Continue Reading 🠢
US MAIL TRAFFIC REPORT – MARCH 20, 2023
March 20, 2023   Dave Lewis
	PERFORMANCE SHOWS SOME IMPROVEMENT BUT REMAINS WORSE THAN LAST YEAR Mail service performance rose a bit from the depths we saw last week, but remains well below average.  First-Class letters were delivered on time 88.6% of the time, down from... Continue Reading 🠢
US MAIL TRAFFIC REPORT – March 13, 2023
March 13, 2023   Dave Lewis
	FLATS PERFORMANCE CONTINUES TO DECLINE Mail service performance continued to worsen last week to a point far worse than we have measured since we began tracking performance nearly two years ago.   Only 38.3% of First-Class flats were delivered... Continue Reading 🠢
US MAIL TRAFFIC REPORT – March 6, 2023
March 6, 2023   Dave Lewis
	THE POSTAL SERVICE HAS A FLATS PROBLEM There’s just no way around it – the Postal Service has a serious and worsening problem delivering flat-size mail on time.  Last week just 70.7% of First-Class flats were delivered on time. ... Continue Reading 🠢
LETTERS DO MUCH BETTER. FLATS, NOT SO MUCH
February 27, 2023   Dave Lewis
	LETTERS DO MUCH BETTER.  FLATS, NOT SO MUCH First-Class Letters had one of their best weeks in months, with 94% delivered on time.  Marketing Mail letters did OK, too, with 97.4% delivered on time.  Given lousy weather in the Upper Midwest... Continue Reading 🠢
Getting the Most Out of Mail Tracking
February 22, 2023   Dave Lewis
	Of course, you know how to track a mailing – you have SnailWorks do it for you!  I just want to touch on some best practices to get the most bang from your mail tracking buck, as it were. Track Every Piece of Mail Every Time OK, a little... Continue Reading 🠢
The Pieces of a Mail-Based Multi-Channel Campaign
February 22, 2023   Dave Lewis
	As implied by the name, a multi-channel campaign has multiple components.  Creating, deploying, coordinating, and measuring all of those pieces is the essence of multi-channel marketing.  One party does not generally do all of them. Of course,... Continue Reading 🠢
US MAIL TRAFFIC REPORT - FEBRUARY 20, 2023
February 21, 2023   Dave Lewis
	SERVICE PERFORMANCE REMAINS IN ITS WINTER DOLDRUMS It may have been the worst week we’ve seen for First-Class letters in more than a year, depending on how you count.  At its most basic, only 82.5% of First-Class Letters were delivered on... Continue Reading 🠢
US MAIL TRAFFIC REPORT - FEBRUARY 13, 2023
February 13, 2023   Dave Lewis
	SERVICE LITTLE IMPROVED OVER PRIOR WEEK Mail delivery service continued to underperform, although a touch better than the week before.  Still, only  about 88% of First-Class letters were delivered on time, and only 75% of First-Class flats. ... Continue Reading 🠢
US MAIL TRAFFIC REPORT - FEBRUARY 6, 2023
February 6, 2023   Dave Lewis
	FIRST-CLASS SERVICE GOES FROM MEDIOCRE TO BAD Last February, First-Class flats, and First-Class Mail in general were, well, just bad.  No need to sugar-coat it.  They managed to improve by late spring, so maybe it had been Omicron. ... Continue Reading 🠢