|
Mail service providers can help with your
mailings in a number of ways.
WHAT IS A MAIL SERVICE PROVIDER?
A mail service provider is a company that specializes in creating and preparing
mail.
Advantages
- Mail service providers save you time by doing all or part
of the work for you.
- A presort bureau may be able to combine your mail with
other customers’ mail to take advantage of lower prices.
- You don’t have to invest in software or equipment.
- You may not have to pay permit or annual mailing fees.
- You can compare your costs and efforts in preparing the
mailing yourself to the costs of paying a vendor to do some
or all of the work for you.
- Nonprofit organizations can benefit from mail service providers
just as for-profit businesses can.
Presort Bureaus and Letter
Shops
Presort bureaus and letter shops specialize in preparing mailings for customers.
Some of these businesses will do the entire mail process for you, from printing
your mailpiece to depositing it at the Post Office. You can find these businesses
by doing a Web search or by looking in the phone book under “letter shops,” “mailing
services,” or “printing.”
Address List Vendors
List vendors collect and sell information about consumers and businesses. You
can buy or rent a mailing list to target your intended audience. Address
list vendors can also correct, standardize, and update your mailing lists.
You can find these businesses by doing a Web search, looking in the phone
book, or by visiting Direct Mail for
a list of USPS authorized list vendors.
Not all purchased or rented lists have addresses that are
correct, checked, updated, or certified. To make sure that
you are getting a list with accurate addresses, ask your vendor
about the list’s National Deliverability Index (NDI),
which rates the percentage of addresses in that list that are
deliverable. The NDI rating allows you to compare the quality
of addresses from several lists and to choose the one that
has the highest accuracy rating.
Remember to ask your vendor for documentation that
shows the addressing updates have been met.
Print and Publishing Services
Printers and publishers specialize in all forms of traditional print communications,
including catalogs, direct mail, brochures, and publications. They may also
provide mailing services.
Parcel Consolidators
Consolidators streamline the parcel shipping process for businesses that mail
parcels in volume. From cost-effective Parcel Select destination entry options
to parcel pickup, sorting, postage payment, and transportation—they
can simplify your fulfillment processes. Working in conjunction with the
Postal Service, the consolidators save you money by mailing your parcels
closer to their ultimate destination. For a list of vendors, see parcel
consolidators.
|
