MAILCENTER: More Folds, Less Flats?

As printers who mail adjust to recent regulatory changes, it’s worth noting which trends in mail processing may have influenced these decisions.

The U.S. Postal Service has shifted incentives toward letters, from a weight- to a shape-based price structure (as reflected by the rate changes implemented in May). While the cost to mail a 3-oz., 9×12´´ First-Class flat envelope has increased from 87¢ to $1.14, the cost of a 3-oz. First-Class #10 letter actually decreased from 86.4¢ to 75¢. Redesigning documents, or even just folding them to fit a 6×9´´ envelope, enables the mailing to qualify as a letter rather than a flat—and reaps major postage savings of up to 20¢ per piece.

The USPS incentive to shift work from flat to folded is driving innovations in high-capacity, high-speed inserting systems, too. These devices can accommodate 16 to 20 folded pages and automatically change settings for different applications. An opportunity exists in mergers and acquisitions, which trigger redesigns of printed communications as companies look to promote new names and logos among consumers and establish branding with graphics and color.

More printer/mailers also are considering high-speed sorting to co-mingle mail, maximizing postage discounts and lowering transportation costs. USPS has encouraged this kind of consolidation via a dramatic increase in the discount spreads for five-digit mail codes and significant drop-ship transportation discounts for Standard Mail.

For example, the 3¢ rate increase for a single 1-oz. First-Class letter, when presorted to five digits, only rises 1.9¢. More importantly, the postage discount on a five-digit presorted 1-oz. letter was 9.7¢ but has gone up to 10.8¢ under the new rates.

In a typical automated document factory environment, individual mailpieces can be tracked within the facility using unique identifiers. With USPS OneCode Vision, utilizing the four-state barcode mandated for adoption by 2009, the tracking capability is extending beyond the mailroom into the general mail stream.

To further reduce undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) mail, as of August 1 the USPS will require all addresses claiming an automation rate discount to have the primary address number be Delivery Point Validation (DPV) confirmed by CASS-certified software. Mailers not complying will pay full price. (For details on UAA and DPV, see GAM’s May 2007 issue, p.52.)

Mailers are exploring other options, too: volume increase, alternative metering and increasing machine utilization. To better position their mailing operations, printers can deploy software that minimizes processing and postage costs, as well as providing scheduling, monitoring and quality control.

Interestingly, the volume of First-Class Mail decreased from 98.1 billion pieces in 2005 to 97.6 billion in 2006, yet Standard Mail rose from 100.9 billion to 102.5 billion. Total mail volume increased 0.7%.