Gotcha Gang Cashes in on Catalogue Mailing

Oakville ON Thursday, September 13, 2007

Note: This case was written in 2007, prior to Canada Post integrating Catalogue Mail into Addressed Admail. As a result, we are pleased to inform you that the minimum of 2,500 pieces is no longer a requirement.

The clouds gathered and the sky just kept getting blacker at Guffers & Duffers, a golf wholesale outlet, as Bill Bobble realized that he had just handed the Gotcha Gang most of his annual advertising budget and maybe even his job! Even Inspector Hamish McMoney – who only learned about this gotcha-plot after it was too late – felt queasy when he heard about Bill’s innocent, but costly, error in judgment.

Every year, Guffers & Duffers send out their annual catalogue, along with an attractive sample item, to about 15,000 pro shops and golf retailers across Canada. This year, Mr. Bobble chose an engraved pewter divot tool to send out with the catalogues. At a cost of about $3.00 a piece, they were to intended to provide a nice little incentive towards bolstering sales and customer loyalty.

Mr. Bobble was planning to mail his catalogues as Addressed Admail. As in previous years, the plan was to nest the sample divot tools inside the catalogues and then insert the catalogues into polybags to create an interesting and attractive package.

He had also done his homework regarding the Addressed Admail product. He knew that there was a 500-gram limitation on Addressed Admail and that his 150-page catalogue from last year weighed exactly 450 grams. When he added the 5 grams from the polybag and 25 grams from the sample divot tool, that gave him a total package weight of 480 grams, which was well below the 500-gram threshold. Everything seemed just fine.

Then, shortly before going to press, his printer called and offered him special pricing on coated (glossy) stock rather than the flat stock that he normally used, suggesting that it would improve the overall appearance of his catalogue. It seemed to be a good deal and Mr. Bobble jumped at the opportunity. He was sure that the catalogue and overall package would look great and eagerly anticipated getting them into the mail.

But, a few days later Bill received a call from his mail service provider and was absolutely dumbstruck to hear that the catalogues weighed 559 grams. He was horrified to learn that he would have to mail the books out as either Catalogue Mail or parcels, but turned absolutely numb when he was told that, because sample items were not allowed to be mailed with Catalogue Mail, he would be forced to use parcel if he still wanted to include the sample divot tools as part of the package.

So it was that a mystified Mr. Bobble called Inspector McMoney, who quickly arrived and cleared up the mystery with a simple demonstration. First he weighed a sheet of non-coated stock, at 6 grams, and then a sheet of coated stock, at 7 grams. The answer was in the difference. The coated stock was 16.6 % heavier. With a quick calculation, the inspector showed how the estimated weight of 480 grams quickly transformed to a weight 559 grams with coated stock.

Mr. Bobble had anticipated paying about $1.44 per item in postage to mail his catalogues as Addressed Admail. The skies had started to blacken for him when he learned that the Catalogue Postage would be $2.43 per piece and that the parcel postage would average out to somewhere in the neighborhood of $8.00 to $9.00 per piece! On the 15,000 pieces he was mailing, he was looking at an increase of at least $15,000, and possibly $106,000 if he used parcel service.

“Catalogue Mail was really the only viable option,” Mr Bobble said, sounding more than a little upset. “But since I can’t mail the samples, I’m stuck with $45,000 of those pewter divot tools. We might be able to find some use for them at some point down the road, but it’s still a huge inconvenience for us.”

For their part, the Gotcha Gang were seen hitting the links at Glen Abbey Golf Club, decked to the nines in their new golf gear. Later, they were seen again, this time climbing out of their limousine, which was parked outside of one of Toronto’s most upscale restaurants. When asked if they felt any remorse for Mr. Bobble, gang members simply shrugged and entered the restaurant without comment.

Please note that the Gotcha Gang is not Canada Post. The Gotcha Gang represents the effect of decisions that result in paying excess postage, labour costs or minimizing opportunity. Most of these releases are based on actual events, though dates and locations may be fictitious.