Mailing Systems Technology - May/June 2008 - (Page 47)

what you were talking about — until you suddenly inform them that you mail out 2,000 of these envelopes each day. The savings skyrockets from 6¢ to 12¢ to an annual savings of $30,000 to $60,000. Now you have their complete and undivided attention. Implementing these kinds of operational improvements can also have a major positive impact on your career track. I once sat in a lecture hall 15 years ago where the speaker discussed going from a Production Mail Room Manager to a Senior Vice President of a major insurance company — all because he redesigned his monthly statements to reduce paper waste and postage. Today, you also get credit for your “green” initiative that saves paper, which in turn reduces the weight of items transported by vehicle and the associated pollutants and fuel expended. The mail room manager’s strategy was considered genius thinking 15 years ago, and it is just as important today, if not more so. Other Effective Mailpiece Strategies In addition to the mailpiece handling strategies highlighted above — which are based on folding and duplex printing — here are two other eﬀective approaches that can reduce costs while preserving service quality: • Automate and save — You can save postage costs by making your mail “automation compatible,” which means preparing it according to USPS regulations that allow your mail to be sorted down to the ﬁnest possible detail for processing by automated equipment. Addressing requirements include using all capitals in the address, omitting all punctuation except the hyphen in the ZIP+4 code and using the proper abbreviations for states. Other requirements include barcode clear zone, placement of the block address and the required placement of the return address. • Track and control — Additionally, it’s important to initiate a process for tracking and controlling your postal costs. Options include using a standard mailing accounting system for simple mailpiece and postage tracking that can span a relatively small number of departments. Online reporting capability provides you with the ability to view postage spent by department, mail classes and timeframe. Finally, there are advanced accounting systems for use by organizations with numerous departments and advanced budgeting procedures. These and other mail management strategies are solutions that can go a long way in helping your organization reduce costs while streamlining operations and retaining service quality. Often, the simplest solutions have historically led to some of the most dramatic advances in business, as well as in individual careers. Re- garding the latter point, I frequently think of the mail center manager who rose to senior vice president. I imagine he remained a big fan of strategies to reduce paper and postage. Joe Freeman, CMDSM, MQC, AQS, is a business solutions architect with Océ Business Services, a leader in document process management and electronic discovery. Email joe.freeman@oce. com or visit www.obs-innovation.com. WWW.MAILINGSYSTEMSTECHNOLOGY.COM | MAY-JUNE 2008 47 http://www.obs-innovation.com http://www.mailingsystemstechnology.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Mailing Systems Technology - May/June 2008

Mailing Systems Technology - May/June 2008 Contents Editor’s Note Peer to Peer It’s an Inside Job Greening Your Mail Center Adopting an Automated Document Factory Intelligent Mail and Address Quality 7 Steps to Combat “Do Not Mail” A Successful Resolution Q&A with Dan G. Blair, Chairman, Postal Regulatory Commission The Intelligent Mail Barcode Developing High-Performance Teams Simple Strategies to Save You Money A Powerful Social Network With Change, Comes Opportunity Increasing the Deliverability of Mail Kate’s Slate Products & Services People of Distinction Advertiser Index Sho Time

Mailing Systems Technology - May/June 2008

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