5 Guidelines for Calculating Mail Costs West Lafayette IN

Although businesses constantly seek ways to whittle costs, the search for dollars and cents can present challenges. Consider mailroom expenses. Responsibility for this multi-faceted function can be distributed across several departments, with each managing a separate budget.

One department may purchase mail supplies, acting on requests from another department that designs the contents to be shipped. Yet another department may have responsibility for actual postage. Saving money in one area may only incur higher expenses in another. Analyzing and controlling total costs require a cooperative, holistic approach.

The following checklist will help you look beyond mailing supplies to gain an accurate picture of total costs.

1. Determine postage fees. Consider how packaging affects mailing costs. Padded mailers now ship as parcels in most cases due to their thickness. The additional $0.33 per piece in postage decreases the cost benefit of using this type of packaging. Paperboard mailers may cost a few cents more at the point of purchase, but they often yield a net savings by qualifying as a flat, rather than a parcel.

2. Calculate fulfillment costs. The new postage pricing adopted by the USPS reflects the fact that certain types of packages have higher processing fees. The same holds true even before these pieces enter the postal system.

   Boxes and padded mailers require manual insertion, and the former also involves assembly. This human element elevates costs considerably, in addition to increasing the potential for error. Using automation-friendly mailers can cut fulfillment costs in half, more than compensating for any price difference in materials.

3. Include inventory management. Consider the time and costs associated with managing mail supply inventory. Tracking supply levels for a dozen mailer sizes gets complex. For this reason, many firms order oversized envelopes in bulk, using a single mailer to accommodate contents of all sizes. While businesses can still use this strategy, the new postage system includes uniform thickness guidelines, which allows only ¼" variance in package thickness. Putting a small item in a large envelope now classifies the mail piece as a parcel and adds $0.33 to the postage.

   Expansion envelopes can help solve this problem. The design accommodates a wide range of content. Bulk purchases qualify for price discounts and reduce the costs of inventory management. Additionally, compatibility with postal machinery keeps postage low.

4. Factor in freight and warehouse expenses. Different mailers incur different costs relating to freight and storage. The ubiquitous padded mailer is a prime example. In addition to higher postage and fulfillment fees, this type of packaging is more expensive to ship and store for the simple fact that it takes up more space than slimmer alternatives. When ordering padded mailers, businesses pay more for freight—up to 30 percent—because of the volume used in the truck. Similarly, these same mailers require more space on warehouse shelves—five times more than their paperboard counterparts.
5. Identify environmental impact. More companies are opting to go green and making environmentally friendly business decisions. Again picking on the popular padded envelope, this type of mailer cannot be recycled—although, to be fair, they can be made from recycled materials. Other mailing options offer both: They are made from recycled materials and are themselves recyclable.

Bob Makofsky is general manager for Conformer Expansion Products. For more information about the company and its automation-friendly expanding envelopes, visit www.conformerinc.com.