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I loathe taking out the trash. (But the packages you convert and the mail you print for clients are now tied to fines as high as $50,000 PER DAY!) I forget to take it out. A lot. My wife is very particular about getting the bins out on time...and she really hates when our neighbors drop their dog poop bags into our cans while they walk by (sorry neighbors if you're reading this 🤣). We used to have two generic bins. Super easy. Then our city gave us three: - Trash - Recyclables (packages & direct mail go here) - Organics Now it's a weekly family "debate" (really means fight). My kids are confused. I'm confused. And somehow, I'm still the one who gets in trouble 🤪 But this confusion is no match for the confusion that EPR causes for printers and brands. For years, recycling was my problem; a consumer problem. But Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) flips that into YOUR problem. A "producer" problem. Meaning: the cost + reporting burden shifts upstream to whoever is considered the "producer" in the supply chain. And there's where significant confusion kicks in -- because "producer" is not always obvious. If you sell / ship / print / mail / distribute into these states, it's already very real (or actively rolling out): • California • Colorado • Oregon • Maine • Minnesota • Washington • Maryland And there are real teeth: - CA: up to $50,000/day per violation - OR: up to $25,000/day - CO: penalties that compound per day as non-compliance continues So no...this isn't just a feel-good "sustainability trend." This is real money. It's a new operating requirement for anyone touching paper, including the stuff we all pretend isn't "packaging" because it's flat and shows up in the mailbox. We just did a webinar with Sylvamo on this with: - Kevin Dehner (EY) - Rachel Strong (EY) - Laura Pickard (Sylvamo) ... where we walked through this topic in detail, and answered hundreds of questions from the audience to help them understand their liability. Want the recording? Comment "EPR" and I'll get it to you. And I'd love your take in the comments: In your world... who is going to end up being the "producer of record" -- the brand, the distributor, the printer/mailer, or someone else? And how sure of that are you??

Who in my network can produce on-demand, personalized food-safe packaging in the US (HP or equiv digital print)? I'm helping someone in my network support an e-commerce platform for SMBs + creators that sells short-run, versioned packaging. Early volumes will be modest, with meaningful scale expected. If this gift is for you -- or you know the right person -- comment INTRO and I'll DM you. Specs in the image 👇

🚨 I'd NEVER trust Tesla Full Self-Driving with my kids in the car! Are you crazy?! That's what I hear from people who haven't experienced self-driving yet. Or people who don't understand how far the technology has come or how it works. Last week, I pressed a button. My car (I call him "Elon" lol) pulled out of my driveway... ... navigated to our destination... ... and parked itself. I didn't do a thing. Yah, Emmie, Jonny, & Sadie were scared at first (I captured their first reactions in the video below ... hahaha!). I get it. Today? They don't even look up. Here's the thing: I can barely look straight ahead and make sense of what I'm seeing. Elon looks ahead, left, right, and behind ... all at the same time! He sees things I cannot see. He never gets tired. Never hangry. Never distracted. And he's constantly learning. The data show he's 9x safer than human drivers. That means he's probably 20x safer than me :) What I notice is that my kids are forgetting what "normal" used to be. That's why I say there's a generation coming (maybe already here) who will NEVER remember life before ambient intelligence. They won't know what it's like to drive themselves, work without AI assistance, or make decisions without real-time optimization. They'll look at our "old way" the same way we look at life before electricity. The question isn't whether this is coming. It's whether your business is ready for customers who expect this level of intelligence everywhere. Have you tried FSD yet? If not, you're missing the closest thing we have to experiencing what "normal" will be for the next generation. Come over, I'll take you for a ride! 🤣 But I get it -- change is hard. What scares you most about this shift??

This is my son Jonny doing homework. Except he's not 🤪 He's sorting through mail that came today. While his math sits there waiting! Look at that pile on the table. At least 6 different pieces of mail. All fighting for his attention. And winning. Here's what keeps me up at night about this pic: While advertising mail volume dropped 40% in 2024, the mail that DOES show up gets grabbed, sorted, & studied ... including by an 8-year-old who should be doing fractions!!! Yet I had three conversations LAST WEEK w/sales reps at print companies who are scared to bring up USPS promotions with their clients. "It's too confusing and complex, Dave." "I'm really busy. I just don't have time to figure it out." "What if I mess something up?" Meanwhile, their clients are overspending 5-12% on postage 😡 And it's only a matter of time before a competitor walks in & says: "Did you know your current provider isn't saving you 12% on postage!?" That's the conversation that scares *me*. Because look at Jonny's table. That mail WORKS. It captures attention. It interrupts homework. It gets looked at. The mailbox is the least crowded it's been in decades. And brands who figure out how to stack these 2026 USPS discounts are going to dominate their categories. So I'm joining forces w/ Sylvamo to do something about it this Thursday: * Glen Swyers (incoming MTAC Vice Chair) * Chris Lien (BCC Software EVP of Postal Affairs) ... and our team are breaking down ALL FIVE 2026 promotions LIVE on November 20th. Not the fluffy blah blah stuff. Hands-on information from people in the trenches: - The new promotion that can get you 12% total savings - Why the new "pick six" Integrated Tech promotion changes everything - The pre-approval process mistakes that screw up your discount claims - What makes promotions ineligible (the stuff nobody talks about) - How to have this conversation with your clients (without the fear) This matters because PSPs are leaving client relationships on the table. Not because you don't care. Because this stuff SEEMS complex. But Glen & Chris will make it simple. We'll have real examples. Real mailpieces. Real savings calculations. If you're tired of worrying about competitors stealing clients, drop a comment below & I'll personally send you the registration link. This industry ... YOUR clients, YOUR business, YOUR livelihood ... deserves leaders who make this stuff accessible. And my kiddo sorting mail instead of doing homework? He's showing us that physical mail still cuts through. We just need to stop being scared of the promotions that make it profitable 🥳 ~Dave PS: The webinar is Thursday, November 20th at 8am PT / 10am CT / 11am ET. Comment "SEND IT" & I'll get you registered. PPS: If you're a brand/marketer doing direct mail: your agency or mail house should be bringing this to YOU. If they're not talking abt 12% postage savings, it's time to ask why. (Or just join the webinar & ask the questions yourself.)

Hours after posting about my kids fighting over direct mail, I walk downstairs and find this: Sadie (6) reading a Target catalog 😍 Out loud. Making her Christmas list by hand-writing what she wants (this particular thing was a lego vending machine kit ... haha!). I didn't stage this. Didn't plan it. Just a Monday night. This is the "can't turn off the mailbox" proof Chris Lien and I talked about in yesterday's post ... in real life. Not scrolling on her iPad. Not asking Alexa. Reading. A. Catalog. Here's what Target's doing right (and wrong): ✅ They're in our mailbox constantly. Smart play :) ✅ Sadie keeps these catalogs for weeks ... in her bed, reading nooks, everywhere ✅ The ritual spreads from kid-to-kid ❌ The paper's too slick to circle with pencil. That might be a UX miss because Sadie can't mark her favorites ... so she has to transcribe to paper. (On the other hand, it does drive more engagement and dwell time, so maybe it works!) I'm also wondering: ‣ Target's hitting millions of households with these. If they're using the USPS 10% catalog discount, they're saving millions in postage. If they're not? Someone's leaving a massive amount of money on the table. Anyone know who prints for Target? Tag them below; let's make sure they're covered on the 2026 catalog promotion. ‣ If you work in direct mail or catalogs, tag someone who thinks the channel is dead. A 6-year-old choosing this over her iPad. Reading it like a book. For weeks. That's not me or USPS telling you that DM is effective. This is real life! Tag someone in the comments who needs to see this 👇

Most people in print have NO idea how fast this is about to hit them: Every time someone says "AI won’t really change print & mail” I think of the Ali G interview where he asks scientists if "cum-pooters" can multiply: "99999999999 99998899999" …as if THAT is the pinnacle of complex computing. It makes me LOL so hard!! The expert calmly replies: "Yes. Whatever number you want." Ali G thinks he’s exposing the limits of computers. He’s actually exposing the limits of *his* imagination. And know what? That’s pretty much where I see a lot of the print & mail industry right now. Here’s the contradiction I see every week: Publicly: "AI won’t impact print or mail." Privately (same people): Three-hour meetings w/us on on AI agents integrated into direct mail with: - Multilingual voice conversations - Cost & on-brand guardrails - Automated data capture - Appointment scheduling - Real-time lead qualification - Reporting + attribution - Whole workflows humans used to do Or another case where someone (let's call him Bob) told a printer I work with that he’s "going all-in on AI" ... because he believes it will eventually replace his ENTIRE call center. The printer doesn't believe Bob. Says Bob is crazy, loco. I don't think so. I think Bob is 100% right. Here’s the part nobody wants to say out loud: AI WILL replace humans. Not all at once ... but it's gonna happen. Not because humans aren’t valuable. But because AI: • Works 24/7 • Never gets tired (or asks for time off) • Never forgets • Never loses its temper • Learns nonstop • Has infinite scale • Costs almost nothing per conversation • & ALREADY matches or exceeds human performance for many tasks If you think that WON’T change print… you’re asking Ali G-level questions about technology that’s already millions of miles beyond the numbers you're imagining 🤯 Print isn’t dying. Print is becoming interactive. The direct mail piece is no longer the end point. It’s the entry point -- the trigger. AI is the conversation layer that: ‣ Answers questions ‣ Captures data ‣ Nudges people to act ‣ Books appointments ‣ Personalizes the experience ‣ Hands off hot leads ‣ Generates proof of ROI That is not "business as usual." This is once in a generation structural change. The real divide in print right now isn’t: "Will AI change print?" It will. Completely. The real divide is: Who is building with it -- & who is still arguing about (or denying) it 😜 →→ If you want to see what an AI conversation layer on top of direct mail actually looks like (in real campaigns, not theory)… Comment or DM & I’ll send you a couple examples.