San Antonio Plant To Close

Direct-mail company Focus Direct LLC is closing its San Antonio production facility and eliminating 78 jobs. The terminations are expected to start May 14 and will take no longer than two weeks, according to a letter the company sent to the Texas Workforce Commission last week.

Focus Direct is diverting the work done in San Antonio to larger facilities in Iowa and Virginia, said Fred Lederman, a consultant to the company. Employees n San Antonio can apply to transfer to those facilities, he added. Focus Direct is part of Iowa’s dmh Marketing Partners, a direct-mail company that mails more than 800 million pieces a year, according to dmh’s website.

About nine workers in Focus Direct’s customer service and data processing may continue on in their jobs for an indefinite period of time at the 108,000-square-foot facility it leases at 9707 Broadway St., near the San Antonio International Airport.

Lederman blamed the plant closing on a combination of factors, including changes in the company’s market. Much of its work has centered on mailings for fundraising organizations, which have seen a drop-off in donations since the economic downturn, he explained.  “It’s an unfortunate situation,” Lederman said. “The issue was not the quality of the (employees), the quality of the work. The issue was just the overall market conditions and business conditions.”

Direct-mail houses also are grappling with competition from emerging digital-marketing channels, rising postage costs and uncertainty surrounding the U.S. Postal Service, according to Jerry Cerasale, a senior vice president of government affairs for the Direct Marketing Association in Washington.  “Some marketers are saying, ‘We’re not sure the mail is going to be around, so we better go elsewhere,’” Cerasale said.

Focus Direct’s workforce has been shrinking. According to the federal Labor Department, the company had about 170 employees last May.  “The company is generally a leading and lagging indicator for what’s happening in the economy,” Lederman said.

San Antonio Express