There’s a new group whose mission is to fill the world with good news to offset the bad out there. The Mail & Jobs Coalition “believes that America is best served by a strong and growing mail system, a system [that] today creates jobs in every town, city, district and state nationwide.” And it spreads that message through its Web site, www.mailandjobs.com.
“The public generally is not familiar with the jobs and economic impact represented by mail. Today the mailstream anchors the production of goods and services worth $900 billion annually – about 8 percent of the national economy,” writes the coalition’s executive director, Peter G. Miller. “The mailstream also represents 9 million jobs nationwide, jobs inside our borders. Our message is plain: The mailstream has great value today and it will have great value for decades to come. … Major companies rely on the mails; charities, environmental groups, consumer organizations and religious congregations all rely on the mails.”
The coalition is supported by several national organizations and companies associated with the mail system. It’s not seeking members or money from the public. “The story of mail and jobs is important to our country and to millions of individual households,” the site says. “Do your part, link to this site. After all, why keep a good thing a secret?” Miller wants Mail & Jobs to be a resource for consumers, schools, nonprofits, local businesses and reporters who are “looking for valid information about the mail stream. This is information that needs to go out to the public.”
Sounds like a fine idea to me.
See You in Chicago
Many marketers will be in Chicago for this week’s catalog show. Attendance should be up, too, especially since it won’t be competing with DMDays New York. Despite the Direct Marketing Association’s contention that the two don’t have much of an overlap in attendees and exhibitors, I know of several people who would disagree. Too bad we won’t know how many actually show up because the DMA refuses to release those figures, nor does it have its shows audited by a third party.
Lastly, I apologize for the problems many of you had accessing DMNews.com last week. Not to get into a bunch of technobabble, but we had a meltdown of sorts. I’ve been told it has been fixed. If you can’t find a story on the site that we wrote in the past week or two, e-mail me at [email protected] and I’ll take care of it.
