Want to save $2.4 million mailing 300 million pieces?
Rose Flanagan maintains that’s exactly what you can do thanks to the latest postal rate case.
As a mailing services manager at Communications Concepts, a lettershop in Ivyland, PA, she’s had to take a long, hard look at the new regulations and has come to the conclusion that they could mean substantial savings for big mailers. She points out that marketers can save $3 per 1,000 pieces for drop shipping Standard A mail to bulk mail centers, which also eliminates processing by the U.S. Postal Service.
“By using combinations of direct trucks to areas where the volumes are high, and consolidation companies to smaller centers, freight costs can be controlled,” Flanagan says.
While most marketers know they can save money by trucking large mailings to one of the 29 bulk mail centers across the country, they may not be aware that those savings could range between $7 and $8 per 1,000 pieces, she maintains. And shipping to sectional centers could bring the discounts as high as $10 per 1,000.
Trust the Trucker
Flanagan points out that to exploit this fully, marketers must have a shipping company they can trust. Since the postal service doesn’t recognize mail as mail until it arrives at a sectional or bulk mail center, the trucking company is responsible for the safe transport of the material from the point of origin to one of the centers. She emphasizes that the benefits of saving money have to be weighed against the possible financial loss of missing or damaged mail.
Another issue Flanagan feels marketers need to balance in terms of profit and loss is when the sheer bulk of the mailing is so great the actual freight or trucking fees could wipe out the savings.
Just Drop It
Flanagan also is impressed by some more traditional benefits of drop shipping.
For one, drop shipping allows marketers to get their mail through USPS processing more quickly. Valuable time can be saved by bringing mail directly to the destination bulk mail center instead of the originating bulk mail center. She stresses how useful that can be with coupons or time-sensitive offers.
“As with anything, knowledge is power,” Flanagan says. “The more marketers know about postal regulations, the greater their chances are of saving money when they mail.”
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