noelward
Well-known member
Against Gravity
Adding Print and Mail?
Good idea. But be careful!
By Noel Ward, Editor@Large
I’ll begin this new column with a question: Is the address of the 11,517th person in the mailing you have going out on Thursday correct? How do you know?
This is not an idle question, because if the 11,517th name and address is wrong, there may be a few others in that file of 62,834 that are also incorrect. The same is true about the 2,783rd out of 3,019. I know this first-hand. Back when I was a direct mail virgin some 32,000 mail pieces went out, with a too large bunch of them turning out to be “undeliverable as addressed”. The client was displeased. I took the heat, even though it was not entirely my fault (corrupt data), because some days you eat the bear, other days the bear eats you. Another time I was not involved but a printer I know found out just how long a morning can be when the mailing list his client provided was less than up-to-date. He got something like 3,500 mail pieces back. I could commiserate, but he was on his own in resolving the problem. He made nice with his client which updated its mailing list.
How Hard Can it Be?
I bring this up now because as commercial printing declines for some PSPs, adding print and mail services has a certain allure. After all, how hard can it be?
The answer is very, because adding mailing services is a strategic business decision and more complex than it first appears. Nothing really difficult, but there are a lot of details. It is one thing to mail out bills for the local veterinary practice you recently printed brochures for; quite another to produce and mail utility invoices, statements for a local credit union, or a town’s tax bills.
Effectively and professionally managing direct mail and especially transactional mail can become quite complex and often requires additional software and equipment, new processing steps and may demand intelligent inserters. In no particular order of importance, consider your answers to the following...
Mailing services can be an excellent extension of your present operation, but it requires a different and well-thought-out approach. Be prepared! And careful!
Adding Print and Mail?
Good idea. But be careful!
By Noel Ward, Editor@Large
I’ll begin this new column with a question: Is the address of the 11,517th person in the mailing you have going out on Thursday correct? How do you know?
This is not an idle question, because if the 11,517th name and address is wrong, there may be a few others in that file of 62,834 that are also incorrect. The same is true about the 2,783rd out of 3,019. I know this first-hand. Back when I was a direct mail virgin some 32,000 mail pieces went out, with a too large bunch of them turning out to be “undeliverable as addressed”. The client was displeased. I took the heat, even though it was not entirely my fault (corrupt data), because some days you eat the bear, other days the bear eats you. Another time I was not involved but a printer I know found out just how long a morning can be when the mailing list his client provided was less than up-to-date. He got something like 3,500 mail pieces back. I could commiserate, but he was on his own in resolving the problem. He made nice with his client which updated its mailing list.
How Hard Can it Be?
I bring this up now because as commercial printing declines for some PSPs, adding print and mail services has a certain allure. After all, how hard can it be?
The answer is very, because adding mailing services is a strategic business decision and more complex than it first appears. Nothing really difficult, but there are a lot of details. It is one thing to mail out bills for the local veterinary practice you recently printed brochures for; quite another to produce and mail utility invoices, statements for a local credit union, or a town’s tax bills.
Effectively and professionally managing direct mail and especially transactional mail can become quite complex and often requires additional software and equipment, new processing steps and may demand intelligent inserters. In no particular order of importance, consider your answers to the following...
- Do you have up-to-date NCOA (National Change of Address) software?
- Direct mail and transactional mail travel at different speeds and are charged different rates. How can you take advantage of these? For instance, how do you ensure you are providing the lowest possible postage rates based on volume, type of mail, or route-sequence sortation?
- The USPS can be very picky about what they will accept. Do you have a relationship with the local post office/postmaster to address postal concerns?
- How are you avoiding being taxed (perhaps by your state) on postage, which is usually the largest cost in mailing? (by the way, your accountant may not know!)
- Are you allowing customers to use your postage indica for mailings?
- How will you handle mail returned due to incorrect addressing?
- How easily can you reprint mail pieces that are damaged or must be re-sent?
- You may already print plain-faced envelopes on an existing press. How well does the press used keep up with the volume of direct mail or transactional documents you now would like to produce?
- Do you use a dedicated press for envelopes or split its time with other work?
- Can you create self-sealed mailers that do not require an envelope?
- Do all the documents you print work correctly in window envelopes? There are several flavors of such envelopes, so documents must be printed to ensure a recipient’s’ name and address displays correctly in the window.
- Are names and addresses you use formatted correctly for high-speed sortation by the USPS?
- Does the return address on an outgoing envelope specify your company or that of your client?
- Are you handling incoming direct response mail for customers?
- Are you equipped and staffed to process a volume of return mail?
- Are you using intelligent inserters? Is their software up to date?
- Are people running your intelligent inserters sufficiently trained?
- Is your production team trained and ready for a print-and-mail workflow?
- Do your inserters or other equipment also seal the envelope?
- Do you plan to handle fulfillment as well as mailing?
- Do you have space in your facility to store the forms, envelopes and fulfillment materials clients’ mailings will require, or do you have arrangements with a third-party supplier for these needs?
- How quickly can you print and mail 10,000 pieces with up to four pages? How about 25,000? What about 50,000?
- How many pages can your folders handle?
- Have you helped customers transition from pre-printed forms to white paper?
- Have you added cybersecurity to protect names and addresses and other data from cyber-intrusion?
- Do you carry cyber-insurance? How much?
Mailing services can be an excellent extension of your present operation, but it requires a different and well-thought-out approach. Be prepared! And careful!
