NAMMU MEDIA GROUP
APRIL 29, 2004

Dear NAMMU Member and mailing industry colleagues:

The Association was formally advised today that Canada Post successfully accomplished a major step toward improving businesses’ ability to continue uninterrupted relationships with clients who have moved. Lianne Pepper, Director, Address Management, Canada Post, confirmed that effective July 2004, the COAN (Change of Address Notification) wording and format will change to better reflect a balanced approach of privacy concerns and business needs. NAMMU began working closely with Canada Post in late 2002 on a variety of proposals once the “opt out” rates on the newly introduced COAN form skyrocketed over 60%. The COAN wording change was a fundamental requirement.

The new COAN format will have a single checkbox to “opt out”, wording is clear and explains mail sent to the old address after the service expires will be returned to sender or destroyed. There will be a quantum gain right at the outset: due to the format of the current two checkboxes, if no box is checked, it is considered an “opt out”.

On average 1.7 million households move to a new address each year, NAMMU estimates 70-80% of these movers file a change of address with Canada Post. It is not possible to guesstimate at this point by how much the actual “opt out” rate will improve, but a conservative estimate of 20% yields a substantial productivity improvement for Canada Post and the mailing industry. Unconfirmed estimates state that 15-20% of the current COAN forms have neither box checked. The payoff is enormous for Canada Post and mailers: In operational savings alone, Canada Post will realize significant improvement - the USPS estimates the cost of forwarding mail at 25 cents per unit, return of undeliverable mail at 60 cents per unit. For mailers, the opportunity to upgrade more of their files and ensure a continuous flow of mail to their customers is priceless.

This major step forward supports the data management initiatives underway by NAMMU: NIXIS by NAMMU and EPIC (Expressed Positive Informed Consent) projects are in development and intended as a sequential suite of services that enhance the Canada Post current NCOA offering.

 

Kathleen Rowe
President
executive@nammu.org