Save up to 62% on Postage Costs

Last Updated on Monday, 22 June 2009 08:09 Written by Kevin Tuesday, 19 May 2009 10:55

With standard letter rates of 50c and larger items like magazines and catalogues starting at $1.50 each, it’s the biggest single cost factor in any bulk mail out.

However NZ Post provides lots of ways to save money.

There’s various factors that help save you money on stamps. Item size, weight, envelope design and volume. However by far the most important is the quality and accuracy of your mailing list.

As has been adopted overseas, NZ Post has implemented a postcode system that streamlines letter sorting and distribution activities thereby lowering their costs. With over 10% of mail being returned each day (that’s 500,000+ per business day), generous discounts help provide real incentives for businesses to participate in the programme.

All about SOAs (Statement of Accuracy)

Below we outline the NZ Post SendRight Address Accuracy Programme and the obtaining of an SOA bulk mailing certificate. The programme not only helps the effective delivery of your mail, but participation means real savings in postage costs.

Mailhouse Data Processing Procedure

Once we (Actionmail) have received your mailing list data, we tidy it up into a format for printing that matches NZ Post requirements. We also de-dupe the data and if required, add salutation and generally tidy it up. We then run it though our smart software which does the following:

• Validate customer address data against New Zealand Post Postal Address File (PAF)
• Attempts to fill in missing data such as postcodes as well as correct or insert suburb and street names. (This will only be done where it is confident of a correct result.)
• Generate Statement of Accuracy (SOA) for SendRight postal compliance

N.B. We obtain an initial percentage for those that match and receive a report for addresses that do not match. The objective is to obtain a good match (ideally 85% or better), in order to obtain the best discount from NZ Post on those items with certified addresses.

Any figure below 85% means that the client is billed the difference. e.g. If the match is only 80%, then the client is billed full price on just 5% of the total mailing volume. (The exact discount obtainable is subject to other NZ Post terms and conditions like weight, timing, urgency etc - Ask for details).

A Quick ROI

The cost to get to this point is not overly expensive either, and for those with a large database of 2,000 or more, there’s usually a quick ROI. If the overall match is low, we can check and repair the addresses for those not obtaining a match. The cost is proportional upon the size and condition of the list or data provided and is costed on a simple per item repaired basis. If this extra cost is an issue, the client can check/repair their own list, using tips and guidelines available from NZ Post and various third parties.

Once completed, we then update the data with the new and original addresses and then run it through our software again to gain a final percentage which is submitted to NZ Post each time you have a mailing. This number is valid for a period of 12 months.

Envelope Design issues – Note also that for some mail types other conditions do apply to qualify for the above discounts. These are primarily around the letter format, dimensions, weight and design. Other future articles will outline this aspect in more detail.

Example NZ Post cost savings:

This varies, dependent upon the size, timing and minimum volumes of at least 1,000 per lodgment. For standard DLE letters the postage drops from 50c to 37.27c per item (gst inclusive). However larger A4-sized mailers can provide much larger savings.

e.g. Instead of the normal $1.50 NZ delivery, an A4 catalogue or newsletter mailing with a SOA certificate having 85% or greater accuracy reduces the cost per item to just $0.74. This means for a run of 5,000 A4 mailers with the ideal 85-100% address accuracy, the cost is now just $3,600 instead of $7,500, a handy saving of $3,900.

For those sending more regularly like Publishers with their monthly or quarterly magazines, subject to certain conditions, prices for these can drop to as low as 58c per item (gst inclusive) instead of $1.50, providing a huge 62% saving.

P.S. Change of Address Management

NZ Post have recently instituted a new service to help businesses and publishers better manage change of address issues. As around 20% of the population moves each year, this is a critical element to help ensure that every mailing gets to the recipient. As every bad address is time and money wasted, then a quick ROI is assured.