Good comments. As much as I’d love to disagree with you, I most certainly can’t and won’t. But part of my point may be misunderstood, a matter of definitions of “delivery rate” versus “desk delivery” versus “readership,” a whole other issue. No, I agree that the delivery rate is not the same as getting a printed newsletter on the desk in front of the addressee. Not at all, but it is physically delivered to the business. But the 95% plus delivery rate by the post office is where it starts, as opposed to the delivery rate for emailed newsletters which is dismal at 35% – or whatever low figure that studies show is out there. The point is that it gets there. If 35 out of a 100 printed, mailed newsletters get trashed at that point, you are still way ahead of the delivery rate for email. If 50 of a hundred got trashed, you’re still way ahead.

Your points about PAs discarding “junk mail” and that execs don’t have time to read everything are duly noted, and have merit. However, what this gets at is also partly company size, and the level of distribution. And also the perception of junk mail. A PA that tosses a newsletter personally addressed from a critical supplier of products/services to the organization takes a risk, while the PA would have to recognize that fact. So, it depends on several factors, one of which is the standing of the organization that sends it. If it is a totally unheard of enterprise (more like untargeted advertising) and seems way out of the interest range of the organization, that is easy to trash. But if it goes to the heart of the enterprise’s mission, a different story. Years ago when I worked in an organization, I didn’t allow the secretary to decide upon my mail, as I didn’t trust her level of understanding what was of import and what was not. That’s just personal, but some like me are out there. Lastly, if you are sending to small companies, a lot of these concerns go away. Like anything else, it depends. Thanks so much for your good comments. That is value. – - Don