Parcel - April 2008 - (Page 20)

MEETING INDUSTRY CHALLENGES Opportunities abound through mailing and shipping efﬁciencies By John Grogan Improving the Overall System One of the more signiﬁcant advances of late has been the ability of our industry to design systems and document handling equipment that monitor their own operation and capture increasingly detailed and useful data about mailing and shipping activity. These advances are now being exploited to better serve customers and anticipate their needs, thereby providing cost-saving conveniences and services and heading off potential problems that might otherwise result in system downtime. For example, today’s powerful, easy-to-use, web-based applications are designed to enable mailing and shipping managers to view, report and follow their mail and parcel trafﬁc — all from the convenience of a desktop PC. This translates into increased efﬁciency, improved productivity and real cost savings through better control of various mailing functions and the transformation of complicated tasks into simple ones. These online services can collect and store activity information, making important data available to customers through convenient reports. Moreover, activity data is typically maintained online for months, which facilitates easier access to monthly comparison data to help evaluate trends in mail volume and usage, and it provides a basis for more informed management of the mail center. These efﬁcient online services often provide customers with access to discounted, electronic-rate Special Service fees offered by carriers to mailers who process and upload tracking information about parcels tracked by Delivery Conﬁrmation, Signature Conﬁrmation and Certiﬁed Mail. Instead of tracking pieces individually, the customer can now monitor all tracked packages, since the delivery status for each tracked parcel is continually updated as the Postal Service makes it available. You’re able to consolidate data about daily machine activity as well as monthly departmental and USPS mail class usage, making it available for viewing online or for export to a spreadsheet. And when the Postal Service announces a rate change, the server can update the mailing machine www.PARCELindustry.com R evolutionary changes are taking place in the preparation, rate calculation and mailing and shipping processes of today’s mail and parcels, much of it being driven by the USPS in an effort to identify ways to increase revenue, reduce costs, improve service and develop a performance-based culture. As our industry continues to introduce new equipment and software programs that offer faster processing and an array of features, it is important that we don’t lose sight of a major industry objective: to make the day-to-day mailing and shipping operations of our customers easier, more cost-effective and error-free. Today’s busy executives would be amazed at just how much can be saved in their business operations simply by improved mailing/shipping performance — sometimes the last place any executive team would probe. Some of the more signiﬁcant ways our industry is achieving this is through more effective system design capabilities; through a genuine commitment to a higher level of knowledgeable responsiveness to our customers; through more efﬁcient document and mail management; and by recognizing the need for a total system solution. All this becomes especially critical in light of renewed initiatives by the USPS, Federal Express and UPS to enhance mail and shipping security and streamline the process through a variety of programs including decertiﬁcation, new rate calculations under the USPS’s Shape-Based Pricing structure and other Postal Service cost- and time-saving efforts. 20 Spring 2008 http://www.PARCELindustry.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Parcel - April 2008

PARCEL - April 2008 Contents Editor's Note Moving Forward Recycling for Safety’s Sake Want Some Good News? Negotiations Have No Finish Line... Lowering your Parcel Shipping Costs Meeting Industry Challenges New Pricing, New Opportunities Time to Track It’s Scan-tastic! 10 Recycling Facts The New USPS Law Changes New Law, New Opportunities for Package Shippers A Diamond in the Rough Seven Shipping Trends for 2010 ...and Beyond The Move Update Changes A Simple Shipping Solution A Case Study in Efficiency New Products and Services Industry News Advertiser Index

Parcel - April 2008

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