How to Control Your Mailing Costs

Mailing costs can add up to a big chunk of the budget for any business, but there are ways to reduce the amount your organization spends on postage without having to spend more money on high–tech innovations. Here are four simple ideas:

• Use postcards to respond to customer inquiries. Preprint cards with specific, frequently used responses, i.e.: "Your order has been delayed, but it will ship on ______." Your employees need only fill in the blank, thus saving manhours. And postage for the postcard will be significantly lower than a first–class letter.
  
  
• Consolidate your shipments. Look at third–class bulk rates if you send out large quantities of sample items. If your organization has separate offices, place all mail for each office in a specific tray or bin and mail everything together just one time each day.
  
  
• Buy or lease a postage meter. You'll be able to post large shipments of outgoing mail more easily. Some models will even allow you to load postage money into the meter over the phone, saving time–consuming trips to the post office.
  
  
• Get a mail scale. Doing so should eliminate overpaying for postage. Some scales will connect to your postage meter to automatically print a postage strip when you weigh your package or letter.

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The information contained in this article is only an overview of the subject matter made for general guidance to the reader, and is subject in all cases to limitations and disclaimers set forth in Staples' Legal Terms and Conditions.