A press release about a new online mailing service recently caught my attention. Worth International Media Group teamed up with AccuData America and USA Direct to launch a custom branded marketing center for the travel industry. According to the release, the site gives users access to an array of pre-designed, editable postcards, letter packages and self mailers as well as a variety of mail package templates that can be customized to meet specific marketing challenges. The site also includes access to highly targeted lists of prospects interested in travel. To find out more about this deal and what it might mean to the mailing industry as a whole, I spoke with Jeff Richards, Vice President of MailNOW Business Development for USA Direct, Inc. in York, PA.

WTT: Jeff, thanks for taking the time to speak with us today. Perhaps we could start with a rundown on your background and how you became engaged in this venture.

JR: My background is in political fundraising mail. I was a Senior Consultant for the National Republican Senatorial Committee and its Deputy Finance Director, and ran the committee’s direct mail operation. About five years ago, Tim Roper—a very talented creative copy writer—and I started our own agency. After 9/11, we, like a number of other firms, were going through some difficult times, and Tim was considering retirement. Meanwhile, I had been client of USA Direct for some 15 years and had developed a close relationship with them. After Tim retired, I went to work for USA Direct in the Washington D.C. area, selling services and running a political operation. In July of last year, I accepted the position of Vice President of Operations for USA MailNOW, the online and print on demand division of USA Direct. Then in June of this year, I assumed the role of Vice President of Business Development for MailNOW.