What Is Commingling Mail?
Commingling mail involves combining the mailings from multiple companies to get discounts from the U.S. Postal Service. These discounts are offered when a mass mailing includes at least 150 pieces of mail to the same zip code. If you’re sending mass mailings, but your totals don’t quite reach that minimum requirement of 150, commingling mail can save you money and provide other benefits.
Services that commingle mail sort the mail from several companies by zip code, bundle it by zip code and tag it with intelligent bar codes, and then deliver the bundled trays of mail. Commingling can even break the process down more specifically by sorting the mail by the actual individual addresses rather than just the zip code, delivering a bundled mail tray that follows the USPS delivery plan.
4 Reasons to Commingle Mail
- You Earn Discount Rates
The USPS sets bulk mailing rates based on the number of pieces being mailed. The greater the number of pieces, the more significant the discounts you can receive. If you aren’t generating enough mail in your business to take advantage of these discounts, which can be sizable, commingling is the answer.
Most commingling services offer a guaranteed price per piece, with everything included: The processing and bundling of the mail, the delivery to the USPS, and the actual postage. Heavier individual items (such as catalogs) will incur their own pricing, but will still beat the postage costs you would have to pay if you weren’t commingling.
- Your Mail Gets Delivered Faster
When you commingle mail, you skip several transportation steps in the mail delivery process, allowing your mailings to reach your customers faster. A national mailing normally takes up to 14 days from start to finish. Because commingling lets you skip the sorting steps and sends your mailings directly to your destination zip code, you can easily save four or even six days in that process. That puts your mailing in front of your customers in priority time.
- You Can Commingle Different Classes of Mail
When you’re mailing periodicals or catalogs, you incur greater costs due to the heavier weight of the individual items. Commingling is also available for these types of mailings, however, to help you save money.
- You Have Greater Options for Personalization
Once you start commingling mail, you have the opportunity to personalize mailings going to different zip codes. That greater personalization increases the chances that your recipients will read and respond, in turn increasing your return on investment for each mailing.
At LetterPrinting.net, we offer commingling services to help you reach your customers as cost-effectively as possible. Contact us to discuss how commingling could help you reach your marketing goals.