Fulfilling Your Postal Requirements
There are a lot of variables in the postal equation, and it’s usually the printers who execute the mailings, but many fulfillment vendors can help.
With the upcoming change in postal regulations, publishers large and small have to find ways to maximize the efficiency of their distribution and, hopefully, cut costs.
Depending upon the requirements of your publications, the capabilities of your particular fulfillment provider, and where specific portions of the list maintenance and mailing for your titles are performed, your fulfillment bureau—working in tandem with your printer—may be able to assist you with certain tasks.
Some fulfillment companies (CDS, Palm Coast/Kable, ARGI, etc.) are offering their clients services such as co-mingling and co-mailing, while other companies are offering ancillary services such as barcoding and presort analysis. Below is a partial list of these companies and the specific services they offer.
CDS GLOBAL
CDS Global is taking an active role in the USPS development of the Flats Sequencing System (FSS) program, according to the company. The program, which is slated to begin in late 2008 will, among other things, introduce the possibility that the industry may need to develop multiple presort processes to deal with the FSS equipment.
The company is working closely with publishers, binderies, software vendors and the USPS to develop a plan that will eliminate the need for further development and utilize existing tools to meet the FSS equipment requirements.
The introduction of the Intelligent Mail Barcode is another major undertaking for the industry that will heat up in 2008. CDS is working, not only to be in compliance with the rules, but identify new services that can be offered as a result of the IMB. Participation in OneCode ACS and the Confirm program offered by the USPS will be one such service that will become available with the advent of IMB.
Services Offered
• Co-mailing of multiple editions within a given title
• Co-mailing of multiple titles
• Co-mailing of multiple supplemental issues (available
in 2008)
• Co-mailing of files outside of the CDS Global
umbrella (available in 2008)
• Merging for attached mail in CDS’ lettershop
KABLE/PALM COAST DATA
The USPS, with the July 15 rate increase, has provided rate incentives to publishers based on container preparation and entry. The container rates are new and are intended to encourage publishers to optimize palletization and drop-shipping to additional entry points.
Because the rate increases are into double-digits for small and some medium publications, says Kable/Palm Coast, new services being offered by printers and distribution companies such as co-palletization, co-mingling and co-mail can help to mitigate some of the postage impact.
Services Offered
• Support for selective binding of geographic editions
• Support for co-mingling within a magazine title
• Provide a Mail.dat to combine the title the company
fulfills with other Mail.dat files for multiple titles
• Co-mingling attached mail for Periodicals for a
specific title
ARGI
By co-mingling our mail we are able to offer our clients the most competitive postage rates available, says ARGI. Oftentimes an individual client's mail will not qualify for an automation discount. The co-mingle process takes these clients and allows them the opportunity to receive postage discounts not available if they were to mail themselves.
The other important benefit to co-mingling is that for mail that qualifies in zip densities, our process will bypass the regional mail facilities and is booked on a flight directly to the destination postal facility. This allows for quicker delivery to the ultimate consumer.
Services Offered
•Co-mingling through its strategic letter-shop alliance
with North Shore Agency (NSA)
STRATEGIC FULFILLMENT GROUP
By consolidating Bound Printed Matter mailings, some of our partners realized postage savings of about 18 percent, says SFG. Co-mingling regularly saves at least 5-6 percent of regular postage costs. A key to managing postage costs is to continually review options and opportunities, especially as postal standards and pricing change.
Considering the successes and savings our partners have realized, we expect to continue this service and to expand it—looking at mailing from all angles—in order to help our partners realize savings at every opportunity.
Services Offered
• Conduct full mailing/shipping analysis on a client-by-
client basis. All mailing classes are evaluated and, where
possible, alternate mailing options are presented along
with a complete impact analysis
•Co-mingling
CAMBEY & WEST INC.
Small- and mid-sized publishers are definitely feeling the squeeze from the postal service; so they look for other ways to reduce expenses without jeopardizing their readership and delivery standards, says Cambey & West.
The latest address standardization software provides behind-the-scenes data for carrier routes, line of travel and DP barcoding. We help with enrollment in the Address Change Service. And we work with them for maximum pre-sorting discounts for renewals and invoices in our lettershop.
Services Offered
• Barcoding
• Address changes
• e-Renewal blast program
• Group renewal efforts
PUBLICATION FULFILLMENT SERVICES
Publication Fulfillment Services will assist our clients with the postage changes by assisting them with postal audits so they may mail at Periodicals rate, thus mailing more economically, and by providing assistance in sortation as needed, says the company. For this we use a sister vendor. We work closely with our USPS Periodical Specialist.
Services Offered
• Postal audit assistance
OMEDA
Omeda assists its clients in maximizing deliverability by identifying and correcting bad addresses via various hygiene and standardization processes, plus manual address cleanup where warranted, says the company. We also work with leading third-party experts to provide specialized hygiene and mailing services.
The majority of our clients depend upon their printers to accommodate their co-mailing and co-palletization needs, since they are the primary providers of those services. Omeda accommodates all formats and schedules required by the printers to maximize co-mailing and co-palletization discounts.
Services Offered
• Address hygiene and standardization
• Work with 3rd party providers to provide
specialized hygiene and mailing services
ICN FULFILLMENT
ICN provides a true customer relationship management database that ties together print, digital, newsletter, memberships, controlled and paid records, all in a real-time environment. This allows our clients to cross-market and cross-sell related products and services thus maximizing each customer touchpoint.
Services Offered
• Provides a true cuustomer relationship management
database to cross sell/market related prodcuts/services
STARK SERVICES
No discussion of postal savings can be complete without discussing the class of mailing, says Stark Services. Publishers can't overlook the benefits of Periodicals (2nd) Class mailing if they qualify. Benefits can be determined by passing their file against various presorts to get postal costs.
If you plan on co-mingling or co-mailing, then you must be in the correct postal class. The tough part is doing all the paid or request subscription promotions and paperwork to be able to apply, audit and maintain that process. Stark can manage all of that from start to finish while also improving the results for any potential or existing ABC/BPA audit.
Services Offered
• Address correction
• Co-mingling of bills and renewals
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