Business Reply Mail

Filed under Field Financial, Mailing Services  

Business Reply Mail envelope

Do you know why some magazines include postcards in the middle? Or have you mailed a letter back to a company in their envelope without having to put a stamp on it? Did you ever wonder how this service works?

The Postal Service offers a service called Business Reply Mail (BRM). By opening an account with the local Post Office, a business may supply their customers with return envelopes or labels. This allows customers to send a reply via First-Class Mail or Priority Mail. The business pays the postage and a per piece fee only for the pieces returned. To ensure the postage is collected, clerks at the delivery Post Office calculate the amount due and withdraw the money from a customer account. In some cases, carriers collect the postage when they deliver the pieces to the business. Generally, BRM pieces are identified through automation process; however, the Postal Service relies on clerks and carriers to identify and hold out any BRM pieces that have not been isolated through automation.

Do you think BRM is still a valuable service for businesses to offer their customers?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Recent changes in the public’s mailing habits alongside increased use of the internet to communicate with customers have led to reductions in BRM volume. This coupled with a smaller workforce with greater responsibilities may increase the risk to the Postal Service of not collecting all revenue from BRM.

Do you think a change in the way the Postal Service charges for these pieces would increase the mailing volume while also helping the Postal Service reduce work hours? Is a flat rate based on quarterly volume estimates a more attractive option? Share your thoughts on BRM.

This blog topic is hosted by the OIG’s Field Financial East directorate.

Post to Twitter

 

Permalink | Comments (19) | May 18, 2009

 

 

19 Responses to “Business Reply Mail”

Pages: [2] 1 » Show All

  1. 19
    Field Financial East host Says:
    September 14th, 2009 at 9:42 am

    I have forwarded your comments to the appropriate individuals at OIG.
    thanks

  2. 18
    Field Financial East host Says:
    September 14th, 2009 at 9:32 am

    I understand your frustration and unfortunately you are not alone in your complaints. I have forwarded your comments to the appropriate individuals at OIG.
    thanks

  3. 17
    Mailer Says:
    September 4th, 2009 at 11:46 pm

    I have had nothing but problems at the Rogers Park, Chicago Post Office. When we applied for our permit we asked if we need to monitor our renewal date and were told that the post office will notify us when permit will expire (we also confirmed this service in the domestic mail manual). W’ell you guessed it. Our permit lapsed because we never received a renewal notice. After several mailings we figured out our permit expired. So leeson 1, we learned is to track your renwal date yourself. Then we paid to renew our permit and it took WEEKS to get a straight answer from anyone. We called the local branch (Rogers Park) we called downtown on Harrison St. Each time we received different answers on how to renew our permit. Eventually we sent in our payment. Spoke to numerous people at Rogers Park and received nothing but a run around. Now we have a renewed permit and sent out seed names and tests and still have not received any back after 2 weeks! What other options do I have? Is there a different service I can use? We really need BRM. Please contact me to discuss this.

  4. 16
    Corey Rosen Says:
    August 21st, 2009 at 7:34 pm

    BRE is first class mail — we pay for it that way, at least. But over the last two years, the Oakland post office has been delivering our BRE’s once a week or less, instead of the daily deliveries we once had (and pay for). This causes customers to complain about orders not being filled promptly and administrative headaches from getting large batches of BRE’s on one day.

    We have complained to the Post Office perhaps 20 times, including through the D.C. office and our Congressional office. We are always promised a call back within a day (this rarely happens, however). If we are given a cal back, we are usually told that someone is on vacation or the person is new (for two years?). I have no confidence whatsoever that this issue will ever be resolved.

    We are considering just dropping BREs and asking customers to affix postage — and including a note explaining that because the USPS no longer can be counted on to deliver BREs reliably, we have had to discontinue the service — another black eye for the Post Office.

    We are far from alone in this area with this problem. The delivery person says a lot of people complain. Before the Post Office decides how to charge differently for BREs, it needs to figure out if it can deliver the service people are buying. If we don’t get the service FedEx promises (and we have switched all ground shipments to FedEx because they are much more reliable and can track delivery), we would a) be called back promptly on complaint (or have the issue resolved up front) and b) get a full refund of what we paid for shipment. This inattention to customer service, sadly, seems to create a downward spiral for the Post Office where it does not have the money to provide better service and people abandon it because it doesn’t.

  5. 15
    w2112 Says:
    July 21st, 2009 at 8:03 pm

    I commented on another post about the fact that I work in a station without a supervisor on duty. I process the BRM mail every morning. If I am not there another person is trained to do the job. We work as a team and we try to cover the window so each of us has time to complete certain duties. Of course there are always days when not everything gets done, but our main focus is making sure the mail we get is all delivered, whether it is BRM, first class, whatever. We time manage ourselves, rather than being micromanaged by management. Works well because we work well together.

  6. 14
    Field Financial East host Says:
    June 16th, 2009 at 4:55 pm

    I agree that you have great cause for complaint. I have forwarded your concerns and comments (including the yelp link) to the appropriate officials. I do not wish to leave specific names and telephone numbers on this post. However, if you send me your email address, I will forward you the information regarding the name and number of the station manager.
    Thank you

  7. 13
    Randy S Says:
    June 15th, 2009 at 7:22 pm

    How do I contact my postmaster? The business model is much like netflix but a niche market of educational DVDs.

    Here are some of the problems we are having with our mailings. This is starting to get very frustrating as our entire business model is centered around our mail being delivered in a safe and timely fashion.

    1. BRM mail is being returned up to a week and a half late. Sometimes items postmarked a week apart are arriving together. We are aware that our post office has only one person trained in handling mail. Is it sitting on a desk waiting for enough volume to be processed? Does it get processed if this person is busy or out for the week/day?

    2. We are still encountering untrained and rude workers at the post office. My wife went to place money on the BRM account for the second time Monday, June 15th 2009 where the clerk did not know what to do and had an attitude. This is the SECOND TIME someone could not help my wife.

    3. Our BRM mailings are under 1 ounce. We are being charged 2 ounces.

    4. Our DVD’s are coming damaged in the mail. It takes quite a bit of pressure to break one of these DVDs. So far we have had two broken. Is this a matter of spite?

    5. I spoke to the Supervisor personally about these issues and was directed to speak to someone else since he didn’t know anything about BRM.

    6. There are public reviews of this same post office online at: http://www.yelp.com/biz/us-post-office—brooklyn-brooklyn . Every person who reviews this 11211 williamsburg post office asks, “WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO SHUT THIS PLACE DOWN?” people have been posting lengthy complaints about this post office since 2006. This is a booming area; is it too much to ask for reliable mail?

    We have spent an enormous amount of money trying to start this business between stocking inventory, printing envelopes, programming and much more. We were under the impression via Post Office advertising and services that BRM was a professional service that could be provided to us and relied upon; afterall netflix uses it. I really don’t know what to do. Will things be better if we change post offices? If so, we have to print new envelopes; this is expensive. Should I consult a laywer concerning the reimbursment of our printing costs?

    I really don’t know what to do. This is a pressing issue. Within one week we had 80 paying customers. Clearly this is a business that will work, but will it fail because of the post office?

  8. 12
    Field Financial East host Says:
    June 15th, 2009 at 2:40 pm

    Thanks Randy for your comment. I agree that BRM customers should receive their return mail promptly. I would discuss your concerns with the postmaster.

  9. 11
    Randy S Says:
    June 15th, 2009 at 2:15 pm

    I had just recently started a business that is dependent upon timely BRM. I have been running it now for the past month and have been very disappointed with what has been going on at my post office.

    There seems to be one person trained for BRM. Often times it can take up to a WEEK AND A HALF between when BRM peices are postmarked and when it arrives. Sometimes BRM peices postmarked a week apart arrive together. I don’t know if I should change post offices or what. My guess is that they are sitting on someones desk waiting to be processed and they take their time.

Pages: [2] 1 » Show All

Leave a Reply