COMMEMORATIVE ARTISTAMP
US President Ronald Reagan
Augmented Bulk Rate postage for a December 2004 mailing to over 16,000 recipients. (Stamp
design & production by The Olathe Poste.)
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First Class
Results at Bulk Mail Rates... Direct mailing specialists, Morgan-Meredith and
Associates, of Herndon, Virginia had an idea how to save money for one of their clients.
So in March of 2004, they contacted The Olathe Poste, Olathe, Colorado to consult and
assist in a proposed test project.
Dan Morgan, co-owner of Morgan-Meredith, hoped that by adding stamps which resembled
first class U.S. postage stamps alongside the discounted, bulk mail presorted class of
postage stamps. That the recipients of their next mass mail efforts would not give their
clients' envelopes the old heave ho into the trash recepticle. An event that happens all
too often when an envelope bearing bulk mail stamps alerts the "postal patron"
that advertising (junk mail) is present.
The pilot project began with just over 10,000 stamps, sized slightly larger than US
definitives. Two images were used in this first application of Morgan's idea as separate
stamps: a scenic image of Independance Hall and, a photograph of a large American flag at
night, with the Washington Monument brightly lit as the background. Both stamps were
very impressive in appearance.
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stamps were licked, and the mailing went out with baited breath. Happily for Dan Morgan,
his client began reporting very promising response rates soon thereafter. Several months
later, when all was said and done, the test program was deemed a success. The responses to
the mailing at bulk mail postage rates received response percentages matching those of
going to the expense of using actual first class postage stamps. Cost figures showed that
Morgan-Merideth's customer saved approximately 50 percent in the cost of postage.
It worked once; would it work again? Optimistically that the
pilot mail project wasn't just a fluke, Morgan and his customer prepared a second mass
mail advertising campaign. But slightly different this time. Only one artistamp would be
used along with the real, US Bulk Mail postage stamp instead of two. And this time, the
client wanted to use an image on the artistamp which was even more patriotic than before.
Recently deceased President Ronald Reagan was their choice to commemorate the President's
passing earlier in the year. Over 16,000 of the Reagan commemorative artistamps graced the
mail stream in mid-December, 2004. Oh, the answer to the question... you bet
it did!
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