Worth The Additional Costs? First Class Postage
For our blog segment “Worth The Additional Costs?”, this week’s topic will breakdown whether or not first class postage is worth the extra costs.
For those new to direct mail marketing, the type of postage is an important factor of a direct mail campaign because postage makes up the majority cost for a direct marketing campaign and the postage can effect turnaround times, postmarks, and more.
Before we begin the discussion, it’s important to touch on the differences between standard and first class postage.
Standard postage takes around 1 week to 2 weeks to arrive at your prospects’ doors while first class postage can arrive in an expedited 3-4 days. However, the cost increases with first class postage. With a direct mail house, standard postage costs you $0.304 per mailer while first class postage costs you around $0.45 per mailer. If you decide not to use a direct mail house, postage will always be $0.55 and first class postage.
Whether or not you choose first class postage or standard postage, it’s always recommended to outsource your direct mail campaign to take advantage of the savings of a discounted postage. With standard postage & a direct mail house, you’re able to save almost half of your costs just with postage. The only downside is the turnaround time, so we always recommend to plan ahead with the extended turnaround time.
One common misconception of standard postage is the lack of a “live” stamp. Many believe that standard postage uses an indicia over a real, physical stamp. However, this is not the case. We use a live standard stamp similar to the image below.
Another question we get is: “Does standard postage have any postmark/indication of the region or area the mailer is being sent out of?” This is a frequent concern for real estate agencies, insurance agents, and other direct marketers as they are afraid a postmark or indication that the mailer is coming out of state will effect their open and response rates. Most businesses or nonprofit organizations want their mailers to be from the same state or region to eliminate the look of a marketing piece.
Thankfully, standard postage (the cheaper rate) does not have any postmark or signage that the mailers are coming out of our state. Surprisingly, first class postage (the more expensive rate) has a postmark because the USPS wants to stop individuals from reusing the stamps.
In Conclusion
The biggest takeaways are to outsource your direct mail campaigns to qualify for the discounted postage and to go ahead with standard postage if you’re able to plan ahead. We utilize a live stamp and there is no postmark/indication that they are coming out of a specific area. in conclusion, first class postage is not worth the additional costs.
However, we understand our customers will come to us with rush jobs that need to hit specific deadline. Thankfully, the Addressers is a full-service direct mail company with next-day turnaround capabilities. We can help print and mail any postcard campaigns, letters and envelope campaigns, snap pack campaigns, and more.
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