National study concludes Generations X and Y value mail

The Gen X, Gen Y, and the Mail study commissioned by the U.S. Postal Service examined the attitudes of Generation X and Generation Y towards mail and found that over three-quarters of these generations read and respond to mail just like their older counterparts.

The findings conclude that young consumers are more likely to read and respond to printed material such as fliers, circulars, catalogs and newsletters that reach them through the mailbox. 

This would be an interesting read next to the report I read a few days ago, where or with whom I cannot remember, about how the extra two cents for postage that began this month will drive even more marketers to the Web.

What the USPS study does not distinguish, though, as far as I can tell, is mail received at the office via mail received at home. I am much more forgiving of junk mail at home than I am at the office. I don't understand why, but it's true. A piece that might at least get a cursory glance at home before going in the trash goes straight to the bin at work. But at work I'm more likely to open an e-mail that might be a solicitation, but might be junk mail. (On my personal account, I would just trash it if I had the slightest clue that it might be selling me something.)

Is it just me? Do others out there have different attitudes towards business and home mail?

Comments

[Jamie Notter]

While they conclude that Gen X likes mail, they also defined Gen X as those born between 1965 and 1972. I have to think you need more than 7 years to make a generation. Also, Gen Y goes from 1977 to 1994. Apparently no one was born bewteen 1972 and 1977. Aside from the fact that postal service is concluding people like mail, these kinds of research details lead me to take this with a grain of salt.

[Nick]

I'm pretty vicious about throwing out the mail at home, I even shred the bills b/f opening if I've got them in my system. The bills make me think of Godin's Permission Marketing where he uses the example that the phone company used to send out bills and people paid them. Then they started sending out junk mail that looks like bills and they have to spend all kinds of money on collections because people just toss it all!

You are right about work, though, I think because I'm getting paid and they might be offering a solution. If you are the first one to look at their product, then maybe you'll get an edge because of it.

[Zachary Wilson]

I honestly can't say that I am more tolerant in one place or the other. I can say this, though, that since we began doing more marketing I really examine materials that try and reach me at lot more closely...whether that be direct mail, e-mail blast, or billboards.

It seems to me that the USPS is getting a little worried about their business. Look, postage keeps going up and I can only assume this is because they don't have as much business as they used too. Now they are trying to tell us that people in Gen X & Y are more likely to respond to printed mail? Hmm...seems suspicious to me.

Although, something that just struck me is there might be some logic behind that. Think about this, people in those generations are spending more and more time on the phone, in front of the tv or computer, listening to digital music players, etc. What marketers are trying to do now is reach those sub-cultures via different mediums, but what the post office provides (which may be taken with a grain of salt like Jaime said) might just be true. People might be able to be reached via traditional methods simply because they are outside of the more commonly used mediums, such as tv, comp, mp3 players. Just a thought.