ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: Long & Short of Bulk Mail

Re: Long & Short of Bulk Mail

KTAADNPB@aol.com
Mon, 1 Sep 1997 08:38:23 -0400 (EDT)

I'm new to the list and am enjoying it immensely. I admire you all! I seem
to have lost a lot of my gitupandgo, so hopefully you will inspire me. I
know I need a trailer because at 50 - even before - I've discovered that I
don't seem to ride as much on my own initiative.

Anyway, my purpose for writing is to let ride secretaries know that I am a
bulk mailing specialist for the Postal Service. Sometimes it isn't cost
effective for you to have your own bulk mail permit if you mail out just a
few hundred pieces per year - you've got to pay $85 for your annual bulk
mailing permit, and you may want to pay a one-time fee of $85 for a permit
imprint so you don't have to worry about stamps or metering.

But you smaller mailers, don't despair - mailhouses (look in your phone book
under Mailing Services) will presort your pieces for you and enter them under
their own permits, saving you the annual and one time fees. Sometimes they
can enter the mail at cheaper rates than you can, because they may have a
permit at a sectional center facility, which shaves off a bit and may make up
for what they tack on per piece for those pieces that stay within the area
served by that SCF. This is how they have managed to eke out a living. Not
to mention the burden taken off you! They can do the whole job for you, from
printing to presorting to delivering to the post office, sometimes cheaper
than you can do it yourself. Worth a look.

If you do want to do things yourself, we have a guide for presorting by hand
and there's also mailing list management software for under $100 that can do
lots of things for you, and also spit out your labels, even barcoded, in the
correct presorted order. Doesn't get much easier than that. That's how the
mailhouses do it, just with more bells and whistles. If you design your
letters to conform with our automated equipment (maximum 2.5 oz for
nonbarcoded), you won't need to make those pesky packages of 10 or more with
the red D's and green 3's, etc, that some of you may be cringing at the
thought of. It's so much easier now.

A great benefit to bulk mailing standard class (used to be called third
class) is that you don't pay postage by ounce increments as you do with first
class. Let's say you have a 2 ounce piece - would be $.55 single piece first
class. With standard mail, it's the same price regardless of weight, all the
way up to 3.3 ounces. You could have a race program/info, plus even a return
envelope (we'll design it free for you with your correct barcode), and keep
it under 3.3 ounces. If you have certain zip code groupings of mail, you get
lower rates, but even for the most dispersed piece - in a format that can't
run on our automated equipment (staples, over a 1/4 inch thick, no barcoding,
etc.) you won't pay over $.256 for a letter even if it weighs 3.3 ounces, as
long as it's not more than 1/4 inch thick. If it is, it will cost a few
pennies more.

Now, should I tell you about nonprofit mail??? If you qualify for postal
nonprofit rates, figure on just over half of that rate quoted above. How
does .132 sound for a 3.3 ounce piece? Doesn't cost to apply for nonprofit
rates - and you can get that nonprofit status and still use a business
mailhouse to prepare your mailing, saving you the annual fees and one-time
charge for permit imprint. (Get your nonprofit status recognized at the post
office where the mailhouse enters mail.)

Standard mail can go over 3.3 ounces, too - all the way up to just under 16
ounces - then the rate is determined by a piece rate and a pound rate. You
can also mail flats (pieces that exceed letter dimensions, cost a bit more
but sometimes worth it).

I'd be glad to give anyone further information or phone numbers for help in
your area. Your local postmasters can help or refer you. Ask your local
postmaster for Publication 417 (has eligibility info and application form) to
see if your group can qualify as postal nonprofit. I'd have to have more
specifics about your organization to help you there.

Pam in Maine

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