Uncommon Direct Mail postal strategy
There are a variety of strategies that mailers can use to help lower their overall postage costs through the USPS workshare discount program. Most transactional and direct mailers presort their mail to achieve these savings, either through sorting via software prior to printing, physically sorting after mail finishing on an in-house sorter, or sending their finished mail to a presort service provider. Typically this mail is then provided to the local post office for entry into the USPS delivery network. Direct mailers who want to obtain even deeper postage discounts should consider a Standard Mail Multiple Entry Drop Ship strategy.
Mailers who utilize a Multiple Entry Drop Ship strategy sort mail to region-based mail pallets, then deliver these pallets via private shipping companies to designated USPS® locations throughout the United States. The postage rates for direct mail utilizing this strategy are lower than the already discounted presorted rates. For example, a Standard Mail letter that weighs 3.3 ounces or less normally requires 24.2 cents in postage when sorted to the 5-Digit level, but if that same mail is entered at a USPS destination network distribution center (DNDC) the postage is only 20.9 cents per piece. Five digit mail entered at a USPS destination sectional center facility (DSCF) requires even less postage, only 19.9 cents per piece. There are 21 DNDC centers within the United States and a national mailing will typically sort to this discount level. Regional mailings are more likely to qualify for the DSCF discount level—nationally there are 350 DSCF locations.
While utilizing a multiple entry drop ship strategy can sound intimidating, with the right tools it is achievable by any high volume mailer. Our new SortEngine™ Multiple Entry Drop Ship software—available for Pitney Bowes Vantage™, Olympus®, Reliant™ and VariSort™ sorters—automates the decision making process. The SortEngine software module determines which mail trays should go on which pallets. It also prepares all of the necessary USPS paperwork (hard copy or digital) required for each individual shipment.
There are numerous shipping companies that mailers can use to deliver pallets to the required USPS destination centers. The cost to use these shipping companies is normally far less than the additional postage savings obtained, although the only way to know for certain is to perform a postage evaluation. These evaluations are personalized and based on a mailer’s actual mailings. One high volume mailer that we recently analyzed would be able to save an additional $50,000 dollars in postage each day, while only paying $9,000 to a shipping company.
A Standard Mail Multiple Drop Ship strategy could be a new source of postage savings for your organization. If you are interested in learning more, please use this form to request a personalized postage evaluation.
Related Capabilities