PIAA has launched a new initiative to provide printers access to PMP Distribution but already a mailing house is raising the alarm about failed past experiences. Letterbox Marketing Plus will provide preferential pricing and access to PMP Distribution’s more than 14,000 local walkers in over 30,000 neighbourhoods around the country as well as sales and marketing training support.
Bill Healey, CEO of the PIAA
Bill Healey, Printing Industries CEO, says the associations partnership with PMP Distribution means members can take advantage of the strong growth in DM and catalogues in retail markets and small businesses with reduced cost. He says the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures put the number of operating small business in Australia at over two million and this initiative will allow for competitive pricing. Healey says, “We already know that local businesses on average spend around $15,000 each year marketing themselves, so this presents a huge opportunity for printers to tap into a ready income stream. “The reduced rate for members is lower than postal and other unaddressed mail services, so there is scope for good margins on distribution in addition to their own print and design services.” Sydney mailing house managing director, Mark Mina from Senses Direct, welcomes the initiative saying it should have been done a long time ago but he is warning that if lessons are not learnt from the past there could be ‘disastrous’ outcomes. Mina says, “It is great that there will be competition in the market but the infrastructure required and the reliability required and the logistics required is mammoth. It is not small. And it has to be very timely and credible. “The issue is that Australia Post goes national, regional, country, everywhere. I don’t think there is any other organisation that can do what Australia Post does on the size that it does. “But again if PMP will concentrate on the inner cities and suburban businesses than that is great but as a mailing house then I have to divide my mail into two; what gets delivered by PMP and what gets delivered by Australia Post, which will deliver to the country.”
Mark Mina Senses Direct managing director
However, he says there is also a problem with walkers as they are not identified, no one is policing or supervising them, and it makes it ‘difficult to have faith’ that everything is being delivered when it is said it is delivered. On the question of reduced cost, Mina says part of the reason AusPost has increased its prices is due to reducing volumes, and if this initiative reduces that even more it is going to hinder the survival of Australia Post as a whole. He says, “I am not backing Australia Post, I am not backing PMP, all I am saying is the amount of volume generated needs to be a lot more for there to be infrastructure. “Sadly we have a continent to service so the problem we have is small population and vast area. So the logistics of delivery is much more costly here then other countries. He also warns saying PMP has been on a similar venture previously but to no avail. “This took place in the past as well, where PMP took on the delivery of ACP magazines, and that went on for a quite a few months but then it did break down in the end. “It is quite risky. There is a lot of investment in this, such as copyrighting, printing, processing and to have it fail in the last minute or not have items delivered when it is due to be delivered, especially if it is sensitive, then it makes it an absolute disaster.”
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