The U.S. Postal Service recently filed to raise postal rates in spring 2007. The proposed rates, driven by rising operational costs, follow a more complex pricing structure than the flat 5.4% increase implemented last January. For the first time, the rate structure will rely on shape, as well as weight. The proposed rates include price incentives to promote mailing efficiency.

Under the new system, flats and parcels face higher increases because of their higher handling costs. Now, for example, consumers can mail a three-ounce letter, flat or parcel for $0.87. The shape-based rates will lower mailing costs for the same three-ounce letter to $0.82. However, postage rates for the three-ounce flat will increase to $1.02, and the rate for the three-ounce parcel will jump 61% to $1.40.

“The proposed pricing structure encourages use of flat and letter mailings whenever possible to take advantage of automated processing,” says Marvin Makofsky, president of Conformer Expansion Products, a Long Island-based company that maximizes mailing efficiency with its patented line of expanding envelopes. “Organizations that rely heavily on mass mailings can save thousands of dollars by converting flat mailings to letter mailings and parcel mailings to flat mailings.”

DVDs, for instance, typically ship in padded mailers as parcels. Innovative products like the Conformer Expansion Envelope enable the post office to process DVDs as flats. For companies that mail these items in quantity, the savings add up quickly: $10,000 on a mailing of 50,000.

In some cases, organizations can reap huge savings by literally thinking out of the box. For example, a national bank that mails personal checkbooks to 500,000 clients per month can cut annual postage costs by $2.3 million, simply by switching to expandable envelopes from traditional check boxes.