LET YOUR MAILER SEE YOUR DESIGN BEFORE GOING TO PRINT:

by Gino

Many costly problems can be adverted simply by sending a copy of your design to your Mailing Professional before going to print.

Printers do not always know whether the media that they are printing will be used in a Direct Mail Campaign. On top of that, Printers print, they typically do not mail and therefore may not be up to date on the ever changing Postal Rules.

A magazine mailer was delivered today to our shop that had no mailing panel on the front or back. It turns out that the designer had forgotten to place a mailing panel on the mailer. Even though many eyes had viewed this magazine during its many stages of print production, this omission was never detected. The printer may have thought it was for distribution by hand or that it may be going into an envelope. One quick glance by one of our staff quickly saw that something was wrong and it was brought it to my attention. Luckily, in this case there was adequate room and a large enough “unprinted” area within the back page advertising that we were able to inkjet the proper mailing information. If the advertising would have been full coverage, alternative steps would have had to be taken such as printing and affixing labels or inserting into envelopes. Both of these steps would have been more time extensive and more costly.

Once your design is complete and ready for printing a mailing professional should have his or hers eyes on it so as to ensure that all of the postal rules are adhered to. As a matter of fact, by viewing your concept at different stages of the design, your mailing professional may be able to suggest alternative design strategies to save you even more in processing and/or postage costs.

Want to know how to create a winning direct mail campaign that won’t break your bank?

Click here to receive our consumer guide: 12 Ways To Avoid Paying More Than You Have To For Direct Mail. Inside you’ll learn the key mistakes to avoid when developing a direct mail campaign, the key element that can make or break your direct mail offering, plus you will be eligible to receive a special discount as a first-time customer! Get your free direct mail guide today!

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A mailing cost scenario that might amaze you!

by Gino

Let’s say you have a bunch of volunteers or interns that can process your mailing. A large chunk of the costs would be saved by utilizing this free labor, or will it?

Having volunteers and interns can really help out with your company’s daily chores and save you money as well but should you allocate all projects to them? Let’s break down one scenario.

You have a mailer that needs to be folded and wafer sealed. The addresses, after printing them on labels, will need to be affixed. Then, apply the postage, sort, bundle and tray, fill out all required postal documentation and deliver the mailing to the Post Office.

As many who have tried this will attest, this can be a daunting task, sometimes adding stress and confusion to the work environment for days. In this scenario many supplies will be needed such as computer labels, rubber bands, wafer seals and all the required postal supplies ie. endorsement stickers, trays and sleeves. The database that will be used must conform to the new postal C.A.S.S. Certification and MOVE Update rules and the company must, in most cases, purchase a postage permit from the Post Office. Once all this is done and the mailing finally completed, postal docs must be filled out to be submitted along with the mailing reflecting the postage and would most likely not be automation compatible since many in-house operations do not have adequate barcoding capabilities. Under this scenario the labor would be free but the postage, one of the highest costs, would be higher. At just an average 4 cents per piece the difference on a 5000 piece mailing would result in a $200.00 increase in the postage!

With state of the art machinery and technology a mailing company can not only process this mailing in hours instead of days but can take advantage of all the postal discounts available. Many times a mail house can save your company so much in postage that the difference more than pays for their labor costs therefore, just as with volunteers and interns, your labor costs are “free”. The huge difference is in the time frame and deliverability of an automation compatible mailing with no stress and confusion at your workplace.

When considering the ever changing postal rules, workplace stress and confusion, your marketing efforts deliverability, the possible loss in postage and or non-qualifying mail requirement penalties, putting an important and huge task such as this in the hands of an experienced and capable professional makes sense. Especially when the overall costs are considered.

Want to know how to create a winning direct mail campaign that won’t break your bank?

Click here to receive our consumer guide: 12 Ways To Avoid Paying More Than You Have To For Direct Mail. Inside you’ll learn the key mistakes to avoid when developing a direct mail campaign, the key element that can make or break your direct mail offering, plus you will be eligible to receive a special discount as a first-time customer! Get your free direct mail guide today!

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Should I purchase a Postage Permit?

If your company is watching its dollars like everyone else during this economic downturn you may want to consider this. You do not need to purchase a Postal Postage Permit in order to receive presorted postage rates. Buying one or many postage permits can be expensive, especially if you mail different types of mail such [...]

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