EcoLogical Mail Coalition to improve B2B mailing practices with the only national, cooperative database that identifies outdated business contacts

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EcoLogical Mail Coalition to improve B2B mailing practices with the only national, cooperative database that identifies outdated business contacts

Businesses, marketers and individuals unite to eliminate waste, make

mail more efficient.

CALIFORNIA, SAN RAMON, Sep. 5 -/E-Wire/-- To maximize the efficiency of business-to-business (B2B) mailing practices and protect the environment from the waste generated by excess promotional mail, the EcoLogical Mail Coalition (the Coalition) launched today with numerous charter members, including Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, MCIÂ® and TysonÂ® Foods, Inc.

It is estimated that millions of dollars are wasted each year in lost time and materials, as corporate mail center staffs sort through and dispose of the huge volume of promotional direct marketing mail sent to individuals no longer employed there. In fact, in a recent survey of Fortune 500 companies, half of the respondents estimated that at least one-third of the mail they receive is Standard Mail (the class of mail assigned to promotional mail.) Of that received, as much as 30 percent is addressed to former employees, which creates unnecessary workload for those who sort and deliver the mail, plus additional costs for disposal or recycling.

"We spend more than 60 hours each week processing thousands of pieces of Standard Mail, which creates huge inefficiencies for the company," said Matthew Foster, Manager of Internal Distribution for Oracle, a founding member of the Coalition. "We were excited to learn about the EcoLogical Mail Coalition, and believe we will reduce excess mail by at least 15 percent in our first year of implementation," added Foster.

Members contribute to the Coalition's "Red Flag Database," the B2B industry's only database that identifies outdated contacts, enabling marketers to eliminate these contacts from future mailings. Marketers pay a fee per match against the Coalition's database. To date, the database contains information on individuals at nearly 6,000 businesses throughout the United States, including more than 200 of the Fortune 1000.

Chuck Moxley, founder of the Coalition, said, "It's been a flawed system all around: for the recipient companies who have to process the excess materials, for the marketers wasting money on mail that never reaches its intended recipient and for the environment, which suffers from millions of pounds of waste generated annually. Everyone wants to fix it, but there's never been a practical solution, until now."

National Waste Prevention Coalition Coordinator Tom Watson described the office of a major financial services corporation, where more than 40,000 pieces of advertising mail are received every month, and almost 88 percent of that mail is discarded.

"More than 68 tons of unwanted mail is disposed of every year from this company alone," explained Watson. The company estimates that it spends more than $75,000 annually to process that mail. "We applaud this innovative effort by the EcoLogical Mail Coalition to deal with the problem of excess business-to-business mail," concluded Watson.

The Coalition also works on behalf of marketers sending the Standard-Class mail. Until now, direct marketers such as Tammie Shoop, Director of Marketing Systems â Customer Relationship Marketing at B2B direct marketing giant New Pig Corporation, have used labor-intensive methods to update their lists manually. They either mailed lists to corporate mailrooms for verification, or they made phone calls to each individual.

"The concept of creating a Coalition and a single, unified database of bad contacts is a simple proposition, but I consider it a significant breakthrough for marketers and businesses alike," Shoop said. "This has the potential for marketers to become more efficient and dramatically reduce mailing costs. At the same time, corporate mail centers will be able to save time and money while the business community itself becomes more environmentally responsible," she concluded.

The Coalition is offering Charter Memberships for a limited time with membership fees waived for the life of the membership. Additionally, a tree will be planted in honor of each new member.

About the EcoLogical Mail Coalition

The EcoLogical Mail Coalition provides the smarter approach to business mail. The organization was founded to reduce the cost and minimize the environmental impact of inefficient direct marketing mail practices. Coalition members contribute outdated business contact information to the B2B marketing industry's only national, cooperative database that enables marketers to remove outdated contacts from their direct mail lists. The database currently contains outdated contact information from nearly 6,000 businesses. For more information and to learn about charter memberships, visit http://www.ecologicalmail.org/environment or call [REDACTED-PHONE].

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.

EcoLogical Mail Coalition

[REDACTED-EMAIL]

(800) 620-3975, ext. 6

http://www.ecologicalmail.org/environment

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