When you’ve poured your heart and soul into creating a jaw-dropping direct mail campaign, a must-read magazine or an imaginative acquisition piece, the work doesn’t stop there. It’s vital to ensure that your printed masterpieces get to the right people at the right time to give them the best chance of delivering the desired effect.

We’re therefore delighted that our services to our clients don’t stop with design and print but continue into the areas of mailing and fulfilment, as we’re dedicated to ensuring that your beautifully crafted pieces reach their intended audiences.

What do we mean when we talk about mailing?

Unsurprisingly, it’s about a lot more than sticking a stamp on a letter and popping it in the post!

Ultimately, our Account Management Team (with more than 30 years’ experience of Royal Mail and mailing houses) will guide you in choosing the correct postal provider to ensure that your items land at the right time and at a price that fits within your budget.

It can seem like a minefield when it comes to postage (there are a myriad of different terms related to mailing), so we thought we’d help by briefly explaining a few of the key questions we are asked about mailing and postage! 

9 popular questions we hear about mailing and postage:

1. What are the differences between Business Mail and Advertising Mail and why is it important?
   • It’s important as Advertising Mail is cheaper than Business Mail! 
   • To qualify for Advertising Mail all mailing items must be addressed and comprise a largely uniform message with the primary purpose of promoting the sale or use of products or services, or to encourage contribution to or support of a cause.  Each case is considered on its own merits
2. What does the recent change from Secured Mail to The Delivery Group mean? 
   • In essence – nothing, the name on your postal invoice will be different – everything else stays the same
3. What is the most cost-effective postage option for charities? 
   • This is the million dollar question! 
   • It depends on what you are sending, how many, what size, and where your recipients are – the best option is to speak to our team about your circumstances and we can advise on the best option for you!
4. What is the difference between high sort and low sort? 
   • At a basic level, it’s the detail of the sortation. 
     • High Sort is a more concentrated sortation – down to postal delivery area, Low Sort is a more generic sort – so would be to Mail Sortation Centre
     • As an example…  The Mail Sortation Centre for Canterbury, Maidstone, Tonbridge and Dartford is in “Medway”.  High Sort would sort mail to Canterbury, Low sort would sort it to Medway.  The more sortation we do here, the cheaper the postage!
5. What are the cut off numbers for unsorted mail?  
   • With Royal Mail it’s 4000 letters and 1000 large letters or packets
   • With DSA providers it is 4000 items across the board
6. What potential postage savings can be made by adding “seeds“ to my mailings? 
   • There is a cut off point where sending more mail is cheaper
     • For example if you have 3900 letters to send via DSA, the basic cost will be £1560 on unsorted postage, however if you add 100 seeds to this mailing and send 4000 items the cost could come down to as low as £880 – but there are sortation fees to add.
7. When should I use a poly bag and when should I use a paper envelope?
   • This is a matter of personal choice!  Aesthetics and environmental considerations really  
   • We can Low Sort poly, although there are more restrictions
8. What is a triparty agreement? 
   • This is an agreement made between the Royal Mail, the DSA supplier and the mailer (i.e. you (not the mailing house)). 
     • It enables the mailer to receive their wholesale part of the postage (the biggest proportion) with a zero rating for VAT
     • This is extremely important for charities who can’t claim back their VAT 
     • There are qualifying spends of £5,500 per annum
9. How do I choose the right postal provider for my campaign?
   • Don’t worry, our team are on hand to help you with that
   • Please give us a call or check out our previous blog about choosing postal providers to help you

Of course, we’d love to hear any other questions you might have and are always happy to discuss your next mailing project too! Please contact us today to find out how our team can help your next campaign get in front of the right audience at the right time.

Acknowledgement:

Photo by Mathyas Kurmann on Unsplash