Bug Ben with your postal questions, he is hard to stump.
We dug up Ben Franklin, the 1st Postmaster of the USPS, to help us out with some of the grave issues facing the postal industry today.
Dear Ben:
What gives with these rate changes? How come I keep getting charged to update the rates on my scale and postage machine? With all the price increases that my business faces I am going to have to raise my prices. What am I supposed to do?
Befuddled in Bonita
Dear Befuddled:
Where do I start? Well to begin with, the details regarding the rate increases can be found in the USPS Strategic Transformation Plan update. The rate changes have come about because the USPS realized that they had to become more competitive and improve their efficiency if they were going to survive. While some rates are going up, others are going down and through out this process the standard for what is considered a mail piece is changing as well.
With regard to the frequency of the changes, you can pretty much count on rate changes of some sort every May. We can help you with the cost of those changes. You can purchase rate protection which costs less than the rate change by itself, and it covers your equipment for one year, for all changes that could come down the pike. If you are in the market for a new machine, you have an option to include your rate protection in your meter rental and the new rates are automatically down loaded to your machine; say good bye to rate change worry and hassle!
This brings us to your third question, to which I respond, there are two ways to increase your profitability, raise your prices or cut your costs. “Cut costs, you say!” “Didn’t you read a word that I wrote?” “My costs for postage are out of control!” “How can I cut costs in the face of rate increases?”
Sorry, I answered your three questions, I haven’t time for anymore, but I can give you a clue, call the MQC certified Account Representatives at San Diego Postal & Shipping Equipment, they can work this magic for you, as they have for thousands of businesses just like yours.
That will be five dollars please….
Dear Ben:
Recently I noticed that some advertising mail has lots of additional information in the address block that makes the mail look like, well, junk. Some of the mail that comes in doesn’t have all of that other information, and in some cases I am surprised when I open what appeared to be an invitation of some sort is actually a solicitation. How can I get my mail to look that good?
Happy in Hillcrest
Dear Hap:
We need to get you a couple of real invitations; you are spending entirely too much time looking at your mail. But since you asked, I will fill you in. If you are mailing standard mail from Mixed AADC down to the five digit sort rates, then you do not have to put the “endorsement” lines in the address block EXCEPT for the first piece in a tray. However, if you cross the line into “carrier route” or other high density rates you must use the dreaded endorsement line on each piece. One other piece of news, when Intelligent Mail barcodes are required, there will be no need for the endorsement line, that information will be included in the barcode.
Hap, what are you doing on Tuesday June 10? The folks at San Diego Postal & Shipping Equipment are putting on a nice open house with food, beverage and guest speakers. Here’s a real invitation for you. Tell them Ben sent you. More information
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