E-Payments on the Rise. In 2017, U.S. households received 118.4 billion pieces of mail and sent 8.5 billion—about 83% of total mail volume in fiscal year (FY) 2017, according to the “Household Diary Study,” a periodic U.S. Postal Service field study showing how households use mail. More than half (58%) of mail received was Marketing Mail. 

The study found 31% of household mail includes correspondence or transactions, compared with 35% 10 years earlier. Over the past decade, online bill payments and automatic deductions have grown to account for most of household payments. In 2007, 60% of bills were paid by mail, 35% electronically, and 5% in person. Last year, those figures were reversed, with 30% paying by mail, 66% paying electronically, and 4% paying in person.

About 9% of the total American advertising spend of $210 billion in 2017 went to direct mail, the third most popular form of advertising, behind the Internet and TV, but it has clearly been impacted by the growth in online ads. Direct mail declined 1.1% in 2015 from the previous year and 1.7% in 2016. But last year it dropped a significant 5.6%, in part because this was an off-election year.