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Co-palletization. Destination entry. Commingling. Welcome to the complex world of direct mail, where there is a lot more to getting letters out the door.
If you are like most busy marketers racing from one project to the next, juggling demanding deadlines and coping with tight budgets, you haven't had time to learn the ins and outs of the different postal options for mail campaigns.
But by having just enough knowledge and by asking the right questions, significant savings can result from choosing the best postal option for a campaign. The key to smart business mailing is taking full advantage of the discounts the United States Postal Service (USPS) offers for mail that is properly addressed, labeled and sorted.
Postal savings have become even more important given the financial shape of the USPS. In early July, the USPS, projecting a $7 billion shortfall for next year, announced it was seeking an overall price increase for mail of about 5.6 percent. The jump, which will take effect in January 2011 if approved, would be the seventh increase in a decade, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
For time and budgetary reasons, and because postal issues can be complex and confusing, it's frequently tempting to simply insist on a flat guaranteed postal rate. But most of the time that only guarantees you will not get the lowest possible rate. Becoming familiar with the different postal options can optimize direct mail campaigns, help manage budgets proactively for profitability and increase the campaign's effectiveness.
The first consideration to examine is the possibility of the destination entry postal option. The USPS offers postage discounts for Standard Class to those who deliver their mail to its large automated sorting facilities, which serve as processing and distribution centers for post offices in a designated geographic area.
The highest discounts, applicable to high volume mailings or those with dense geographic coverage, are available for deliveries directly to a Sectional Center Facility (SCF). The next-best level of discounts can be achieved by shipping to a Bulk Mail Center (BMC). But for destination entry to make sense, the discount needs to exceed the freight cost by a large enough amount so that the administrative costs are worth the difference.
For some mailings, a combination of SCF and BMC drops might be best, possibly in conjunction with the next major postal option: Co-palletization. A service provider authorized by the USPS to offer co-palletization services can combine trays from multiple mailings together on the same skid, qualifying for SCF postal discounts.
If you are like most busy marketers racing from one project to the next, juggling demanding deadlines and coping with tight budgets, you haven't had time to learn the ins and outs of the different postal options for mail campaigns.
But by having just enough knowledge and by asking the right questions, significant savings can result from choosing the best postal option for a campaign. The key to smart business mailing is taking full advantage of the discounts the United States Postal Service (USPS) offers for mail that is properly addressed, labeled and sorted.
Postal savings have become even more important given the financial shape of the USPS. In early July, the USPS, projecting a $7 billion shortfall for next year, announced it was seeking an overall price increase for mail of about 5.6 percent. The jump, which will take effect in January 2011 if approved, would be the seventh increase in a decade, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
For time and budgetary reasons, and because postal issues can be complex and confusing, it's frequently tempting to simply insist on a flat guaranteed postal rate. But most of the time that only guarantees you will not get the lowest possible rate. Becoming familiar with the different postal options can optimize direct mail campaigns, help manage budgets proactively for profitability and increase the campaign's effectiveness.
The first consideration to examine is the possibility of the destination entry postal option. The USPS offers postage discounts for Standard Class to those who deliver their mail to its large automated sorting facilities, which serve as processing and distribution centers for post offices in a designated geographic area.
The highest discounts, applicable to high volume mailings or those with dense geographic coverage, are available for deliveries directly to a Sectional Center Facility (SCF). The next-best level of discounts can be achieved by shipping to a Bulk Mail Center (BMC). But for destination entry to make sense, the discount needs to exceed the freight cost by a large enough amount so that the administrative costs are worth the difference.
For some mailings, a combination of SCF and BMC drops might be best, possibly in conjunction with the next major postal option: Co-palletization. A service provider authorized by the USPS to offer co-palletization services can combine trays from multiple mailings together on the same skid, qualifying for SCF postal discounts.
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