From: "Gene Del Polito"
<genedp@postcom.org>
To: <david.lazarus@latimes.com>
Subject:
Date: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 11:25 AM
Regarding your piece on "junk mail," you've missed
the point. The point is not whether you or anyone else likes it; the point is
that it's nothing more than advertising in a printed form. Advertising in the
mail provides this nation with the same kind of benefits that is provided by
advertising in any other medium. In the case of mail, advertising (in the form
of direct marketing or distributed retatil advertising) supports the universal
mail delivery system that we in this nation often take for granted. Without
advertising mail, free home mail delivery would be impossible to
sustain.
Take a look at the paper for whom you work. Now,
imagine the economics of running the LA Times without printed advertising. It
doesn't work. In fact, there recently has been a lot of weeping and grinding of
teeth over the loss of newspapers' advertising-based model. Something has got to
serve as the financial underpinnings of newspaper publishing. It should be
apparent from the recent rant by the Associated Press at the newspaper
publishers conference that newspapers are not willing to provide their
information services for free. Even you wrote a piece recently regarding
freeloaders on the web may soon be asked to pay more.
Why is it any different with mail? No one really
pays for mail delivery. That actually is paid by senders of the mail, not
recipients. No one wants post offices to close. No one really wants fewer days
of mail service. And the federal treasury has no desire to pay for mail service
from taxpayer revenue. So how would you propose to fund a self-sufficient, free,
universal mail service without advertising?
Is getting advertising mail that you didn't ask for
annoying? It can be. Then again, I find newspaper supplements on Sunday
annoying. I find some advertisements in magazines annoying. I find broadcasted
advertising on radio and television annoying. Heck, I even find pop-up ads and
other intrusions on my web surfing annoying. Nonetheless, I put up with the
annoyance because I know the benefits that these media can provide because of
business-supported advertising.
The purpose of advertising should be simple to
understand. It's meant to stimulate economic development and transactions. In
today's miserable economy, I find it hard to understand how a talented reporter
such as you should have a difficult time appreciating that.
__________________________
Gene Del Polito,
President
Association for Postal Commerce
Arlington, VA 22209-1609
http://postcom.org
Ph.: +1 703 524 0096