Planning a direct mail campaign for your business or organization? Instead of mailing the printed pieces yourself, use a printer that can create the pieces and do the mailing for you. This applies to just about any printed piece, from promotional materials such as postcards and catalogs to periodicals such as newsletters and bulletins.
If you think you're saving money by doing the addressing and postage application yourself, you might be in for a big surprise. A printer with mail house capabilities will not only save you money and time, they will help you avoid many common yet costly mistakes.
Are you throwing money away?
Avoid Costly Mistakes
Until you've done a mailing or two, you might not realize all the rules imposed by the Postal Service. And these rules change frequently. For example, there are specific rules that govern minimum and maximum sizes, allowable paper thickness, the quantity and position of sealing tab(s), the placement and dimensions of the address panel, the size of text for the indicia and so on. Instead of risking added headaches and expense, why not enlist the help of someone that keeps up with all these regulations?
A printer with mailing expertise helps you prevent costly surprises because they are involved from the onset of the project-before the piece is even created. This allows ample time for discussion, questions and design tweaks that will save you money and ensure the piece meets postal regulations. A piece designed incorrectly can cost much more postage than you might think. And the more pieces in the mailing, the more magnified this cost becomes.
Save Money on Postage, Labor, Transportation, etc.
Save Money
Even for relatively small mailings like 200 - 500 pieces, the postage is cheaper than if you applied the postage yourself. That's because the post office provides a postage discount for mail that is presorted and bar coded. You also save the labor expense associated with processing the mailing yourself.
Also, the addresses are checked by CASS software (Coding Accuracy Support System) to ensure they are valid. This prevents perfectly good printing and postage from being wasted on undeliverable addresses.
Time is money. Streamline your mailing by letting your printer handle the entire process.
Save Time
The postage can be printed directly onto your mail pieces using the printer's postage permit number. This saves the time of applying stamps or running pieces through your own postage meter.
Also, recipient addresses can be printed directly onto the printed piece which eliminates the time and expense of creating and applying labels by hand. Direct application also looks much more professional than hand applied labels.
Finally, you'll save the hassles of moving the printed pieces around your office or warehouse as well as the time and aggravation it takes to deliver them to the post office.
Bottom line: If you mail out printed pieces, you owe it to yourself to consider using a printer that also offers mailing services. You'll actually get more for less.
Many Formax customers use us for printing and mailing because we handle these important projects from start to finish. Make one call to us and we help you with the layout, the printing and the mailing. Give us the opportunity to demonstrate how we can eliminate many time-consuming and costly steps for you. Consider Formax for your next mailing campaign!
Take care! Rick
