Mailing Equipment
Whether you have a small or large business one thing is for sure, you need mailing equipment. Some people may try to argue that the money spent on mail equipment is a waste since humans can do the exact same thing. This argument is true in a sense, but when you really start to examine mail equipment and what it can do for a company, you will realize that these machines can do so much more than a human ever could.
Purchasing a new machine for the office is never a convenient task since everyone has to learn how to use it and eventually someone will be unwillingly and unknowingly put in charge of fixing it when it breaks. The postage meter is one piece of mailing equipment that offers the most in terms of convenience and is often the cornerstone of any mail room regardless of the how large a business is. What is interesting about the postage meter is that per federal regulations a postage meter can never be bought, only leased. This is a huge convenience feature since if there are any service problems, the problems belong to no one in the office, but rather to the leasing company. Beyond being a worry-free machine, the postage meter also offers convenience in that trips to the post office are either eliminated or greatly reduced due to the fact that the postage meter will add postage to a package according to the package weight. Some businesses may still have a need to venture out to the post office in order to drop off packages or letters, but the need to stand in line is eliminated and whoever has to go to the post office can smile as they walk by those in line.
The budget is essential to any successful business, and if you blow the budget you can cause serious harm to your business. Often when constructing a budget one has to include minuet details of spending, such as the postage expense, as these little details add up to a great amount of money that is spent. Many people give little thought to the postage budget as they are sliding letters through the postage meter since to most people it is only a few cents here and there. However, this type of thinking can lead to the postage expense getting out of hand very quickly if some sort of supervision is not maintained, and no one wants to hover over the postage meter to make sure that a business is not overspending. So what are you supposed to do?
Well, to some people’s surprise, the postage meter can actually help a business keep track of the postage expense and therefore keep a business within the postage budget. In addition to keeping track of the postage expense, the postage meter also allows the user to check the postage at anytime during a month or quarter in order to prevent overspending from occurring. For companies that may have more than one department and would like to assign each department their own postage budget, the postage meter can be programmed so that each department has its own password that must be inputted prior to using the machine. Therefore allowing the accountants and owners to accurately keep up with every department’s postal spending.
The bottom line is that performing mailing jobs is a very slow, involved task. It can take hours to make labels, fold letters, stuff and seal envelopes, and whoever is performing these tasks is spending a good bit of their work day concentrating on the mail. The truth is that for each of these tasks, there is a piece of mail equipment that can do the job for the employee.
Few people realize the different types of mailing equipment that are available to businesses and individuals. For example, anytime a company is doing a large mailing, all of the mail pieces must be sorted by zip code. This can take an employee multiple hours depending on how large the mailing is. However, mail sorters can get the job done rather quickly. Small mail sorters can sort 7,000 pieces of mail per hour while large machines can sort 50,000 per hour. These machines come in all sorts of sizes, varieties and price tags to meet any need. Prior to sorting the envelopes, however, the envelopes must be sealed, letters must be folded, and envelopes must be stuffed. Fortunately, envelope sealer machines are available that can seal 40-300 envelopes per hour and, like the sorter machine, sealers come in a variety of sizes. Letter folder machines that can fold 50 letters in a minute and envelope stuffer machines that can stuff 100 envelopes in 5 minutes, are also valuable tools in the mailroom that help to reduce the time it takes to process mail.
Any business needs to run efficiently and that sometimes requires that a machine do more than one job at a time and mailing equipment can streamline many of the mail jobs that must be performed in any office. Many of the mail equipment machines that have already been mentioned can be purchased to do one job or they can be purchased to do two or more jobs.
For example, some models of the postage meter will have the ability to moisten, seal, and add postage at the same time. You can also purchase certain models of letter folder machines that will fold letters as well as stuff envelopes. Another machine that can also multi-task that has not been mentioned is a labeler and tabber. As the title suggests, the labeler adds labels to envelopes while the tabber is designed for mail pieces such as a newsletter that does not go into an envelope but is instead folded and uses a sticker to keep it closed. Furthermore, efficiency is about using all of the resources you have in order to ascertain the best possible outcome, and while purchasing separate machines may have certain advantages such as two people working at the same time, you must consider the space that these machines would take up. Is the space that is taken up worth having two people work at once? If so, how often would that happen? These multi-tasking mail equipment machines would take up less space and therefore allow your mailroom to look more professional and less cluttered.
Humans are prone to errors, but fortunately machines are more accurate most of the time. When dealing with a large mailing, which is often referred to as bulk mail, postal processing software is a must. Many small companies will try to imitate the software by using a database or spreadsheet program to organize a mailing list, but nothing compares to postal processing software. Postal processing software allows users to ensure that there are no duplicate addresses, all addresses are in the correct format per postal regulations, all zip codes are verified and corrected, addresses are sorted based on zip code, and the 4 number zip code that follows the 5 number zip code is added.
The sorting feature of postal processing software ensures that when the labels or envelopes are printed there is no manual sorting required since the zip codes will already be in order, which is a requirement of the United State Postal Service (USPS) for bulk mailings. The other features such as verifying zip codes and the correct address format help a business to reduce to amount of rejected and delayed delivery mail. This means that mail arrives when it needs to, and every business owner knows what that means for the bottom line.
As the saying goes, time is money and we have already established that mailing equipment can save time through multi-tasking, eliminating trips to the post office, keeping you within your budget, and maintaining a high level of accuracy, but how does that translate into your bottom line? The answer is that the time that is usually spent processing mail can now be devoted to other tasks. For example, suppose it takes an employee one hour to process mail without mailing equipment. Now consider that with mailing equipment, the same employee can now use 15 minutes of that hour processing the mail and the other 45 minutes performing other tasks. That means in one week, that same employee who used to spend 5 hours a week processing mail is now spending, per week, 1.25 hours processing mail and 3.75 hours performing other tasks. For the month it means 5 hours devoted to mail and 15 hours devoted to other tasks. The 15 hours that would be devoted to other tasks is almost the equivalent of two extra workdays. Think about what could get done if you had two extra days per month to work. This devotion to other tasks means that more work can be performed, and the more work that is performed means the business makes more money and runs a lot smoother.
There are some people in the world that are so devoted to a cause that they put other people’s lives in jeopardy, and this passion for a cause can translate into the business world. There are some businesses that may be more prone to threats than other businesses due to the nature or mission of the business. These businesses may deal with hazardous materials, have a controversial mission such as an abortion clinic, or for whatever reason may have become the target of malicious behavior.
You may be wondering what this has to do with mail equipment, and the reason is that there are mail scanners that can scan for dangerous materials and substances, including bombs and detonators. These machines are affordable as they range from $3,000 to $34,000, and the price tag of a mail scanner really depends on the size and features of the machine. Some mail scanner machines can sit on a person’s desk, while others will need a complete corner in the mailroom. Obviously, mail scanners are not a suitable fit for every office but those businesses that are in the public eye more than others or may receive hate-mail on a regular basis may need to consider a mail scanner for the safety of their employees.
There are some out there who may drool at the thought of mail equipment, but in the end may shy away from purchasing mail equipment when they see the price tag since some of the price tags can be a little staggering. However, with the exception of postage meters, all other mail equipment can be purchased used. Of course, you may need to be prepared to not have every feature you would like, meaning that if you can only afford a 4 year old letter sorter, then it probably will not have the same features as a brand new letter sorter.
Basically you will need to figure out how much your company needs a specific piece of mailing equipment and weigh that against the amount of money saved by purchasing used and the features, if any, that will be given up by purchasing used. Another thing to consider when looking at purchasing used mailing equipment versus new mail equipment is your budget and what you can purchase with it. Used mailing equipment will make your budget go further. Meaning that if you have $5,000 to spend on mailing equipment then you could maybe purchase one new letter folder for $5,000 and nothing else, whereas, for $5,000 you could perhaps purchase a used letter folder and used mail scanner for $2500 each.
Some people still may not be ready to purchase mail equipment and this is understandable since the price tag of mailing equipment can be staggering and when coupled with the uncertainty of whether it will be worth the price can be a little daunting. However, those companies that have computers with internet access are already using one piece of mailing equipment that they may not be aware of. That’s right-the computer can be used as equipment for mailing. Sure it is not promoted as a piece of mailing equipment, but just like a computer can be used for a number of different things it can also be used to help ease the burden of mail jobs. The USPS and other private mail services currently allow businesses and individuals to purchase stamps via the internet (although this usually takes 1-2 weeks for delivery), print shipping labels for both domestic and international shipments, schedule pick-ups for packages, and also offers online ordering of shipping supplies. If you are uncertain as to the options that are available to you from these companies, many sites have a tutorial online or a frequently asked questions page that you can follow. If you still have questions you can certainly call or stop by a location. The employees will be happy to assist you. So even though you may not have a postage meter, letter folder, or sorter streamlining your mailroom is just a click away.