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What Does It Mean to Commingle Mail?

The success of your direct mail marketing campaign depends on people opening your mail piece and responding to your offer. You also want to optimize your direct mail marketing efforts by reducing costs without impacting response. You can save money by reducing the number of pages you print and how many pieces you mail. But, is it possible to save money on postage? Yes! When you commingle mail, you reduce the postage costs for your campaign. Here’s what you need to know about commingling.

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What Is Commingling?

Mailing a campaign isn’t as simple as printing, stuffing an envelope, putting a stamp on each piece, and putting the flag up on your mailbox. Sorting a large-scale marketing mailing is a detailed and complicated process. 

  • To earn lower postal rates, you must sort your mail in a way that helps the post office deliver it more efficiently
  • Your prep work ahead of time helps reduce your rates. You save the post office the task of sorting and adding postage before delivering

Commingling is one of the best ways to reduce your postage costs. It’s a process of pre-sorting your mail, adding metered postage, and allowing it to deliver with other batches of bulk mail—often from other companies. 

How Does It Save Money?

How does mixing your mailing in with other bulk mailings help decrease your direct mail postage? It’s all about the way it’s shipped.

  • Postal service sorting software puts your mailings into zone and zip code order
  • You deliver your presorted and metered mailing to the post office or a center
  • The post office processes the pieces to organize them based on the regional centers closest to the zip codes in the pre-sorted batch
  • Your mail combines with other bulk mailings going to different regions

By maximizing trucks and routes going in the same direction, you help the post office be more efficient with delivery. Bulk postage rates also drop as your mail quantities increase. Adding your pieces to the pieces of another mailing means both you and the other mailer reach the next discount level together. 

Is It Worth It?

For small mailings, the money saved can be minimal. However, if you regularly produce thousands of pieces for your direct mail campaigns, the savings can be significant over time. Keep a couple of things in mind when you commingle your direct mail campaign:

  • It takes a little longer for mailings to make it to recipient mailboxes
  • You won’t always get back undeliverable mail pieces

For most companies with a significant direct mail marketing plan, the savings from commingling are worth the presort work and delivery delays. 

Commingle Mail to Maximize Your Marketing Budget

There’s no need to pay more for postage when a lower rate doesn’t impact the effectiveness of your mailing. Commingle mail to reduce postage costs and help maximize your marketing budget. Make sure you also use the right printing service to create and mail a quality mail piece. Contact us for more information about our services!

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