Direct-Mail Spending Down in 2008 and Still Falling

Mr. Ratan believes the direct-mail community will continue to see a "grinding down" and an eventual bottoming out in the summer, followed by a "healthy uptick" during the 2009 holiday season. "By the summer [I believe] a number of elements of the stimulus package will take effect, consumer sentiment will have started to turn for the better and the stock market will start to get healthy again," Mr. Ratan said. "We'll have gotten past the bottom by the end of 2009."