Moving Toward a Successful Alliance

In 1993, USPS struck a deal with New York-based Targeted Marketing Solutions Inc., to provide the more than 20 million Americans who move each year with a Mover's Guide. The company has since changed its name to Imagitas and moved to Newton Upper Falls, Mass. "My wife and I approached [the Postal Service] in 1992 with an idea to save them money," explains Imagitas Chief Executive Officer Brett Matthews. "It was also something that would be in line with their core mission and it would improve customer service." The idea was pretty simple: Imagitas would print and mail the change-of-address kits and mover notification forms. It would do so free of charge to USPS. In exchange, Imagitas wanted permission to contact private companies and let them put ads in the package. Imagitas would make its money by charging companies such as Ace Hardware, MCI and local newspapers to advertise.

Though the concept was projected to save USPS more than $1 million a year in printing and postage, agency officials turned away Matthews six times. "It's difficult for agencies like the Postal Service to do something new," says Robert Krause, USPS' vice president of electronic commerce. In the early 1990s, Krause headed USPS' address information system. "It was the first time USPS had a commercial message in an offer like this."

Postal Service officials had to make sure, Krause adds, that the venture was good for consumers and did not put the agency's brand at risk. Chief among the concerns was that placing ads in the kit would give the impression that USPS endorsed those companies. "We spent tens of thousands of our own dollars on public research to ask customers how to best communicate that this is not an endorsement," Matthews says. The solution was to put disclaimers on the ads.

From the start, the service was a success. It was tested in 10 markets and, according to a 1993 survey conducted for USPS, 77 percent of people relocating said they preferred the kit to the old change-of-address card. Beyond that, USPS has seen tremendous savings. The agency not only saves millions in printing and mailing charges, but the kits also helps to reduce mail forwarding expenses. "They have helped reinvent an important government service into a money-making proposition that not only saves $50 million in tax dollars, but also creates new jobs," Vice President Al Gore said in 1997 when he awarded USPS and Imagitas a Hammer Award under his reinventing government initiative. Now, Imagitas is working to move the entire kit to the Internet, allowing movers fill out all change of address forms online.

But before doing so, Krause says the agency must finish a check of its Web security system. "The Postal Service takes a very very high road with respect to individual information," he says. "Beyond a privacy policy, we have to support it with the best security possible. We have to ensure that the system in place is as bulletproof as possible."