Transactional Mail Today & Tomorrow: New OIG Report

From the OIG: The Postal Service’s largest provider of revenue and contribution, First-Class Mail, is rapidly slipping away. It still generates approximately 40 percent of total revenue and about 50 percent of total contribution, but First-Class Mail’s total volume has declined to 59 billion pieces from a peak of 104 billion in 2001 — a 43 percent decline.

The implications of this decline are the subject of a two-paper series on First-Class Mail. The first paper focused on correspondence mail, a segment of First-Class Mail that has seen a dramatic decline in volume in recent years. This paper turns to volume trends in transactional mail, the largest segment of First-Class Mail, which includes bills, statements, and payments.

This paper examines the recent history of First-Class transactional mail sent and received by households. Four key interrelated factors — electronic diversion, demographic changes, the economy, and evolving security and privacy concerns — have had powerful influences on transactional mail volume trends during the past 15 years.

(Click to read report)