Junk mail is the US Postal Service’s latest hope for boosting revenue

Has the answer to saving the US Postal Service been cluttering our mailboxes this whole time? USPS is pushing a new online tool that it hopes will encourage small businesses to send more junk mail, CNN reported.

The Postal Service has launched a Web tool that allows small businesses to send direct mail to customers in certain neighborhoods or zip codes without having to address each piece with names or street addresses, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. What USPS gets: more mail to deliver, and therefore, more revenue.

Businesses don’t need a bulk mail permit to participate in the new mailing service, called Every Door Direct, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. Businesses pay 14.5 cents per item – versus 45 cents for a First Class stamp – and may mail as many as 5,000 pieces a day.

The service is being marketed to the 54 percent of small businesses that advertise and don’t use direct mail, Paul Vogel, president and chief marketing officer for the Postal Service, said, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

The Postal Service has lost income as modern Americans have stopped mailing as many First Class letters and bills. The Postal Service reported a $5.1 billion loss for the year ended Sept. 30, CNN reported.

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USPS officials estimate the direct mail program will generate $750 to $800 million for the agency in 2012, CNN reported. "We believe it could be a billion-dollar product for the Postal Service by 2016," Vogel said at a presentation today, according to CNN.

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