If you decide to use bulk mail there are a number of steps that you need to do in advance. With everything that is going on preparing for a new plant some of these can be easily overlooked.
- Non-profit status with the Post Office can take take several weeks and in our case over a month. Get the paperwork started ASAP.
- Permit – you also need to have a bulk mail permit with the Post Office. This will involve filling out a permit application and paying a filing fee, again you will need to apply for this and provide documentation.
- Give the project plenty of lead time. Ideally, you should start your design at least 8-10 weeks before you want your first one to go to mail.
- Outsource – You can save a lot of work by using a company like Details Direct or Outreach. If you do it yourself, you will want to have all details, messaging and full content written before starting design.
- Be sure that you have access to all graphics and artwork you want us to include in the design—and that the graphics files are in the proper formats. In general, photographs should be high-resolution, at least 300 dpi. Vector images such as logos should be saved in eps (Encapsulated PostScript) format for your printer.
- Where are you meeting? If you don’t already have a digital version of a map, you may want to have one created.
- This should not be a team project. Don’t get a bunch of people from the plant involved. I think this is a job the planter should keep under his banner of responsibility. If you just hate thinking these things through assign a single point of contact for the project, whom you trust to make decisions, there is strength in committees, but they are very difficult for design projects
- Don’t let mistakes be the first impression. Get a second pair of eyes to proof your content.
- Count the cost. As you estimate costs and cash flow issues that postage will need to be paid as a separate charge.
Mark,
I didn’t know this before…but we discovered that it is actually cheaper to do bulk mail from Minneapolis (major hub) rather than through Burnsville (local hub). I don’t know all of the regulations on it, but we mail from the central mailing hub in our area (Minneapolis) to save money on each direct mail piece.
Marketing professionals will tell you to choose and clearly define your target distribution list, and then mail to that same area over and over.
Dan…
That is a great point…I think the law changed in May 07 to make that even cheaper. Thanks Dan.
On May 14, 2007, the bulk mail regulations changed and the post office removed the DDU discount. Now, the lowest non-profit mailing price occurs by dropping your mailing at an “SCF” (Sectional Center Facility). The SCF is normally a larger post office that is set up to handle large bulk mailings more efficiently and feeds mail to the local offices.
The good news is that an SCF drop for a mailing will normally involve a single drop for the mailing, instead of multiple drops to many local post offices.