Tax laws are confusing that's why you use an accountant. They know the subtleties of the law and their services often pay for themselves when they find deductions you didn't know existed. The same can be said of mail presort bureaus. Their expertise in dealing with intricate USPS rules, using specialized sorting equipment and software for greater postal discounts makes preparing mailings in-house a less desirable option. More businesses are outsourcing their mail to presort bureaus to avoid the costs and hassles of preparing their own mail according to the USPS's complex, changing regulations.
The days of simple ZIP Code sorts, rubber banding bundles of envelopes and dropping them at your local post office are gone. Today's USPS rewards finer sortation, high-volume, 11-digit delivery point barcodes and palletized shipments sent directly to area Sectional Center Facilities (SCFs) and Bulk Mail Centers (BMCs) by giving multiple discounts on postage. Yet few individual businesses know how to take advantage of all of the savings. Even fewer can justify the presort equipment, labor and time required to perform these tasks properly. One-ounce presorted First Class mail can range from the basic presort rate of 35.2. down to 27.8. for 5-digit automation presort, a savings of more than 7.. Up to 10.4. can be realized per piece on Standard A letters. As a result, it is vital for companies to explore the different pricing advantages.
Many of us have heard the terms "commingled mail," "combined mail" and "copalletized mail." The fact is that each of these terms describes a mailing prepared using the USPS OP (Optional Procedure) Mailing System. Defined in section P920 of the USPS Domestic Mail Manual (DMM), it states that "An OP Mailing System is a method of verifying and accepting First Class Mail, Standard Mail and Package Services Mail paid by permit imprint. Mailings may consist of identical weight or non-identical weight pieces. The OP Mailing System reviews a mailer's financial, production and other business records in lieu of standard weight verification procedures. Postage verification is normally completed by a USPS audit of business records kept by the mailer. A USPS audit is designed to detect underpayment of postage." Let's examine this process for First Class and Standard A automation letters.
If OP is not approved for the mailer, the USPS requires that all mailings prepared by · individual businesses consist of identical pieces. To ensure that the correct postage has been paid, the USPS weighs the entire mailing and compares it to a very accurate weight of an individual piece, thereby obtaining a count for the entire mailing. If the weight of the mail pieces varies, the count will be off and the mailing is refused.
This traditional method of verifying mail does not apply to presort bureaus or lettershops approved by the USPS to use the Optional Procedure (OP) Mailing System. Under OP, the presort bureau or lettershop combines and commingles non-identical size and/or weight pieces from multiple clients. This is a major advantage that boosts the volume of mail headed to each destination and secures lower postage rates in return. A presort bureau or lettershop qualified to implement the OP Mailing System has jumped through hoops to do so. This complex system requires regular audits, stringent record keeping and an onsite USPS employee.
A major benefit of using a presort bureau is its ability to commingle First Class and Standard A Mail. In a "commingled mailing," non-identical size and weight letters bearing the same postage payment method, i.e. meter stamps or permit imprints, from numerous clients are presorted and included in one large mailing. First Class mailers have been using presort bureaus for years. For direct marketers, advertising agencies, printing houses, individual businesses and lettershops, commingling Standard A Mail can extend the reach and impact of all their direct mail. For Standard A mailers, this may also mean the difference between being able to qualify for additional entry-level discounts. A presort bureau can reduce your postage expenses by five percent to almost 40% on average.
In addition, an OP Mailing System can also produce a "combined/commingled" mailing. Under this process, not only can non-identical weight and size letters from multiple clients be included in the same mailing, but also various postage payment methods can be included as well. For example, in a First Class combined/commingled mailing, mail bearing meter stamps (one, two or three ounces and at any approved presort or automation rate) can be included with mail bearing permit imprints (one or two ounces) and pre-canceled stamps from various clients. This same example pertains to Standard Mail with the added advantage that both Standard A Regular and Standard A Non-profit can be combined and commingled in the same mailing. Because of the more qualified level of sorting, you save more money, and the delivery time is shortened.
Under the OP Mailing System, a mailer may include trays of non-identical weight and size letters on a pallet of mail being sent to a Sectional Center Facility (SCF) or Bulk Mail Center (BMC). This process is referred to as "copalletization." The financial benefits of copalletization result from the mailers' ability to lower shipping expenses to the various end-points by increasing the volume (weight) of mail being shipped.
Lettershops are capable of providing this service, but it is difficult because it takes considerable space to stage and prepare the pallets of copalletized mail from individually completed mailings. Additionally, if only individually completed mailings are included in the copalletized shipment, only the volume discount for shipping is realized. A presort bureau operating under an OP Mailing System preparing combined/commingled Standard Mailings, however, are automatically producing copalletized mailings as a result of the combine/commingle process. This ensures that both maximum postage savings as well as shipping discounts are achieved.
Since each pallet must contain a minimum of 18 trays or three levels, this level of presorting requires a huge volume of mail, far beyond the typical mailings of all but the largest companies.
As a customer, you simply create your mailing (from 500 pieces or more); apply presort postage; a permit imprint or pre-canceled stamps to all pieces; and call up the presort bureau. You need not worry about barcodes, sorting, completing complex USPS paperwork or delivering mail to the post office. The presort bureau often comes to you, picks up your mail and takes it to its facility.
At the presort bureau, every piece of mail is run through a scanner, which reads the address and either reads your barcode or generates an 11-digit automation barcode that's printed on the envelope. The mail is then sorted into hundreds of bins corresponding to major ZIP Codes across the country. As mail comes in from other customers, it is commingled with your mailing. Once all of the day's similar mailings are commingled, the presort bureau can then prepare the trays/skids for shipment. Although separate 3600 or 3602 documentation for each type of postage (permit imprint, metered, pre-canceled stamps, postcards) is required by the USPS, the entire mailing is qualified together, and the paperwork is handled by the presort bureau.
Working with a licensed OP Mailing System presort bureau means the customer gets the benefits of commingling, combining and copalletization all in one process. However, nothing comes without a price. The presort bureau does have to charge a fee for their work. These fees can be negotiated and almost always result in a significant postage savings to the clients. Also, because all the mail is included in one mailing that will have a separate USPS mailing statement for each postage payment type, the presort bureau is unable to provide the client with a postage statement for their individual mail. However, your presort bureau should be able to provide you with a USPS report detailing piece counts, qualification and postage cost. This report should also be round stamped by the USPS with the date of mailing. In summary, businesses can do better when they consider the options provided by a licensed OP Mailing System presort bureau.
Paul Bailey is the president of ProSORT Services located in Burr Ridge, Illinois. For more information, visit www.prosort.com or call 630-323-0606.
