Royal Mail Price Hike Causes Small Businesses to Re-think Their Postal Strategy

    LONDON, ENGLAND, June 24, 2012 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The new increase took effect on 30th April so if you haven't already got a plan in place, then you need to think about looking at your postal costs. It doesn't matter what quantity of mail you send out on a daily or weekly basis, you need to set the wheels in motion so that you don't pay that extra expense but rather try to tailor your postal needs with a view to saving money.

A first class stamp will cost 60p as of the 30th April and a second class will set people back by 50p. The little time this has given people to reorganise their postal strategies means that many businesses could be facing a real challenge. However, there are options as well as alternatives out there that can be taken advantage of to reduce postal costs.

One method is to change over to an alternative mail system. This is to use franking machines that are pretty sophisticated in so far as they are fitted with postal scales and software that calculates the postage. This means no errors are made when it comes to postage rates needed on your mail which ensures you don't underpay or overpay. If you get it wrong and underpay then you could be hit for an administrative fee of 80p for every item that is incorrectly stamped and on top you'll have to pay the underpayment amount on every item, it could end up being an expensive mistake to make.

Using a franking machine automatically entitles you to a discount as well which means you will not have to bear the brunt of the full increase. As such you will benefit from a 16p saving on a first class stamp and 19p for second class.

However, for some businesses purchasing a franking machine might not seem an option as it is another financial outlay. However, it is estimated that if you send 5 items a day the discounts on postage will offset all the rental and running costs of a franking machine so don't rule it out. If you decide to stick to stamps, another simple way of saving is folding letters to fit into letter size envelopes as this will be cheaper than using an A4 format (Royal mail charge by weight and size).

There are those who advocate switching to electronic mail as a way to beat the increases in postal rates and reducing office supply expenses. You would not need to buy envelopes and paper, which gives you a two-fold saving. However, many in the industry believe that physical mail will remain an important format for businesses to use and that it has a vital role to play both today and in the future. For some customers, often older people, email is not an option so you need to plan for some physical mail to continue for quite a while yet.

Electronic mail might well be a great way of communicating with customers and suppliers and is one format that is reliable, fast as well as being very cost effective. However, companies whether large, medium or small will still need traditional print campaigns to run their businesses and as such need to get a postal strategy in place that is cost effective in order to cut their future monthly or annual postage expenses. Combining both electronic mail and physical mail in an intelligent manner will result in a postal strategy that's cost effective.

Neopost is the UK's and Europe's number one supplier of mailing solutions. It has a direct presence in 19 countries, with 5,700 employees and annual sales of EUR1 billion in 2011. Its products and services are sold in more than 90 countries, and the Group has become a key player in the markets for mailroom equipment and logistics solutions. Neopost supplies the most technologically advanced solutions for franking, folding and inserting and addressing as well as logistics management and traceability. Neopost also offers a full range of services, including consultancy, maintenance and financing solutions.

Website: http://www.neopost.co.uk

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