DM consultant sees the light at the end of the tunnel of fear.

Newsletter publishers need to be "very cautious and very conservative," particularly if they are serving a consumer market.

This was the advice of copywriter and direct mail consultant Craig Huey of Creative Direct Marketing Group, who suggested that these publishers go to "only their best lists if they plan an envelope mailing.

"I don't care what type of envelope mailing or how much you identify yourself with good teaser copy or what is inside the envelope," he said "You have 10 to 15 percent of the audience who are afraid to touch that mail."

He suggested that consumer publishers turn to self-mailers, reportalogs or magalogs-- anything as long as the person doesn't have to open the envelope.

Huey reported that he solved the problem for one client by creating "an oversize postcard printed on both sides."

"We made it as big as we could in order to give as much room as possible for the message," he said.

And business-to-business mailers need to be concerned about the way that mail is handled in the mailrooms of the larger companies: Even before the events of September 11, 10 to 15 percent of the mail sent to large corporations never got out of the mailroom. "This mail was undeliverable. And I suspect this figure has probably doubled or tripled since September depending on the policy of the mailroom," he said.

Huey suggested that marketing managers check with a few selected mailrooms to determine "if they would accept or reject the type of direct mail piece that you plan to send."

He concluded, "Some might view me as little more paranoid, but I think there is too much caution and fear out there and it's going to take another 30, maybe 60, days before things get back to normal and people start to relax. As long as there are no more anthrax scares we are seeing the tail end of the fear."