Notes on USPS Bulk Mailing

Here are some things that I learned with my bulk mailing campaign.

First, you need to spend money to save money. Small campaigns (under a few thousand letters) are not worth using bulk mail. One person recommended not using bulk mail for highly qualified leads -- people like seeing the stamps.

In order to send use bulk mail, one needs to have a Bulk Mail permit. With this permit, one may use a meter to print postage, or one may purchase "precancelled stamps". With an additional permit, one may print a mark called an "imprint" right onto the envelope. The imprint permit allows one to do much more with office equipment.

If return mail is desired, such as a comment card, then a Business Return permit is required. This allows one to pay for only those comment cards which are returned. Since a relatively small percentage of cards are returned, this turns out to be quite cost effective.

All permits referred to so far, the Bulk Mail, Imprint and Business Return, are $150. This fee does not include the cost of the postage.

Postage for first class is now $0.37 per piece. With a Bulk Rate permit, it can go down to $0.26 per piece. With Automation, it can go down further to $0.22 per piece.

With a clean address list, one can take advantage of the automation features of the USPS. This requires using a tool that checks addresses against a database. This is called CASS, and you can read about it on the USPS web site. The tool must be CASS certified, because the reference database is updated regularly.

Finally, if you want to print envelopes that have validated addresses in a sorted order that will be accepted by the post office for automation rates, you need PAVE certified software. You can also read more about PAVE on the USPS web site.

We ended up using DAZzle Express from Envelope Manager at www.evnmgr.com, which is CASS and PAVE certified and is priced very reasonably.

Having gone through this now, I might recommend pre-cancelled stamps when getting started, if you don't want to use a commercial mailing house. However, I am satisfied with the solution which was finally achieved.

The real goal, however, is to connect to you, my retailers and customers, and ensure that you get what you want and need.