Canada Post hurting future of Direct Mail

Having spoken with many direct marketers, I am concerned about how professional mailers are being kicked in the teeth yet again.  CP has made first class mail more than 60 cents.  This makes it nearly impossible to test direct mail with any new offers.  Direct mail is all about testing, testing, testing and more testing. As the cost of each piece skyrockets astronomically, it becomes impossible to find a program that works. If Canada Post understood that they need to EMBRACE direct mailers, not alienate them with a pricing structure that does nothing for niche marketing.  Canada Post is not built on your grandmother mailing you a birthday card for your 12th birthday.  Its founded on business commerce and solicitation.  The sad part is, they began with unaddressed admail.  This offering cut out the ability to target specific businesses or contacts based on criteria more involved than simply where the contact was located.  As a result of this, direct marketers got lazy! Forgetting that title, business size, industry and all the other selections that factor into successfull direct marketing.
   So, as a result of the shift away from unique datasets or custom lists.  The quality of data lists has been on the second decline since this derailment began.  I am not going to talk about the leadership of this company or the rest of the marketing world in Canada.  But it does seem that its incredibly shortsighted.

The solution is providing credits to test marketers, businesses that are willing to spend on small test campaigns.  This will ensure that more programs are tested and direct mail remains part of the marketing landscape.