Category: Postage Savings

I received a piece of mail from my college Alum association

Was surprised to see the permit was originally printed as First Class mail- which would have cost 66 cents ea

Saw they added Presorted, which brings postage down to approx 38 cents ea–that saved them approx $10,000 in postage (approx 100,000 mailed)

But, if they had prepared from the start as Nonprofit bulk mail

postage could have been as low as 9.3 cents ea and a savings of 26 cents ea or $26,000!!

It Pays to  Pay attention to the classification of mail and to properly design the mail piece for optimal postage savings!

Postal rates went up Jan 21^st…

The cost of a stamp is now 50 cents—it seems costs increase a penny in many categories. Presorting your first-class mail—bundling by zips per postal regulations—can save you over 50% for your letters weighing 3 to 3.5 ounces.

Nonprofit mailers can see a decrease in larger sized mail, mailed in higher densities—so if you want to mail an 8.5 x 11 newsletter to folks in your local vicinity, such as all households in 15217 (Squirrel Hill), you will see a 7% DECREASE—22.7 cents from 24.4 cents each.

The increases are highest for mailing packages weighing 7-15.99 ounces. The USPS is pretty much your only option and a bargain for packages—think padded envelopes—that weigh under 1 pound.

For instance, mailing a 7- ounce package now costs $3.05 up from $2.77—but still way less than using Fed Ex or UPS whose rates start at 1 pound, usually a min of $7 or Priority mail which is now a min of $6.70.

I pulled this information from an article by Adam Lewnberg, who did a wonderful summary in Mailing Systems Technology.

http://mailingsystemstechnology.com/print-article-4298-permanent.html

A client who was planning an event for prospective PhD students asked me to attain a list of people who had completed graduate school, worked in military or technical/professional professions, and lived in the DC area.

Upon reviewing their invitation package, I noticed the reply envelope did not have an automation barcode (which corresponds to the reply address) or the FIM bars.  I made a visit to the postal service website and obtained the barcode artwork and provided to the printer.

By adding the barcode to the reply envelope helped to save them approx $700 on a 35,000 piece mailing.

The difference is approx 2 cents if your reply envelope or card, is not automation compatible.