|
October 2003 — Vol. 81, No. 8
SMALL BUSINESS
Twelve ways to cut
your mailing costs
Upcoming postal price increases don’t have to hurt your budget
By Chris John Amorosino
Freelance writer in Unionville
As of May 12, it will cost a penny more (42 cents) to mail a First-Class letter. Your business’s postage costs, however, might not have to go up at all — if you can find more-efficient ways to mail. Here are 12 ideas to look into.
1. Update your mailing lists. The best way to cut your mailing costs is to clean your mailing list, according to Joe Milositz of the U.S. Postal Service’s Business Development Team. USPS software called CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System) improves the accuracy of mailings by verifying address lists against the Postal Service’s official list. You can have a CASS-certified vendor (mailing house, software vendor or service bureau) update your list. See the certified-vendor list. Vendors also offer at least eight other address-quality services.
One such vendor, Dillon Mailing & Printing in West Hartford, for example, recently discovered 6,300 duplicates in a company’s list of 85,000 addresses and saved that business $2,100 on one mailing.
For more information about the CASS system, call the USPS’ National Customer Support Center’s CASS Department at 800-642-2914.
2. Use online postal services. USPS offers several online services. At www.usps.com you can select or design a mail piece, enter addresses, or upload an address list. Your mail can be printed, prepared and delivered in as few as one or two days. Services like Premium Postcard or Click2Mail provide discounted postage rates by automating and presorting your mail; no minimum number of pieces is required.
3. Download free USPS software. USPS Shipping Assistant, a free desktop computer program, combines the functions you need to create labels (domestic and international), ship packages, compare rates, calculate estimated delivery times, verify deliveries, request free carrier pickup, and more.
4. Use flat-rate mailing and free mailers. For $8.95 you can ship packages up to 70 pounds anywhere in the United States (all 50 states and territories) as long as the contents fit into the USPS’s 11-by-8½-by-5½-inch box. In a 12 ½-by-9½-inch flat envelope, you can ship anything in the U.S. for $4.60. Other flat-rate sizes are available. All flat-rate boxes and envelopes are free.
5. Take advantage of discounts. Dillon’s Operations Manager Amy Kennedy suggests taking advantage of “workshare” discounts. With Presort Standard, for example, you give the post office seven to 11 business days to deliver your mail and, in return, earn large discounts. But you or a mailing house must do some of the preparation — such as adding bar codes and sorting by carrier route — that the post office would normally handle. A 3.3-ounce letter mailed First-Class would cost you 93 cents, but if you make sure it qualifies for Presort Standard, it would cost only 28 cents. Any mailing of 200 or more identical newsletters, flyers or ads can qualify for discounts such as Presort Standard. Letters, invoices and postcards totaling 500 or more also qualify.
6. Stay within postal regulations for mailing-piece size. Kennedy advises designing your mailing pieces around postage regulations. The size, thickness and mailing location all affect your postage rate. For example, you can cut the cost of mailing 1,500 7-by-10-inch postcards at the Presort Standard rate from $735 to $420 by reducing the size one inch to 6-by-10-inch. Likewise, using standard-size 4¼-by-6-inch postcards or No. 10 business envelopes saves money compared with nonstandard-size pieces. And a mailing you deliver to the local post office will cost more than if you take the same mailing to a large-sort facility, such as the one on Weston Street in Hartford.
7. Combine pieces when it won’t cost more. Often, adding a second or third sheet to a mailing won’t cost you an extra cent. For example, postal regulations allow you to send a 3.3-ounce letter Presort Standard for the same rate as for one ounce.
8. Talk to the experts. Draw upon the expertise of the post office or a mailing house. For online help, go to www.usps.com or the Postal Customer Council. Contact a local USPS Business Service Network representative or postmaster. You can e-mail the USPS Business Development Team or call 203-782-7315 . Find a mailing services company by checking your local telephone directory.
9. Weigh your mailings. Use a scale and postage meter to weigh each piece of mail. The postage meter will print the exact amount of postage for each piece. Companies such as Pitney Bowes and Ascom/Hasler provide mail stations integrated with the USPS mailing and shipping software.
10. Do the fold. When you mail a piece that weighs less than an ounce, fold it so that it fits in a standard No. 10 business envelope. That piece will cost 41 cents before May 12 (42 cents after), compared with 80 cents if mailed flat in a 9-by-12-inch envelope.
11. Send a postcard. A First-Class postcard saves you 15 cents per piece over the cost of a First-Class letter. It also eliminates the cost of an envelope.
12. Get a Presort Standard (bulk mail) permit. If you frequently mail more than 200 pieces at a time, ask the post office about a Presort Standard (bulk mail) permit.
[back to top]
|
