Postage Rates to Increase – Again!
Displace Postage Expense Throughout Your Organization

On February 11, the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission announced another postal rate increase, scheduled to take effect May 12, 2008.  What's more, in accordance with The Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, the United States Postal Service (USPS) will adjust mailing services prices each May – meaning it’s now more important than ever to evaluate your customer communications and identify areas for postage savings. 

For financial services providers of all shapes and sizes – retail banks most notably – postage ranks among the top five operating expenses.  Given the traditional means of communication with their customers, financial services providers are likely more mail dependent than many other service organizations.  As postage rates continue to rise, the effect these costs have on your balance sheet becomes more evident. 

Retail Banking Due to volume alone, Insufficient Funds Notices (NSF) are often the first items to be considered when it comes to postage savings.  However, with the breadth of retail banking services provided by financial services providers in today’s environment, many opportunities for improved customer communication and postage savings go undetected. 

Are your customers eligible for new no-fee checking accounts?  Is the interest rate changing on select personal savings accounts?  If so, chances are you’re communicating this information via mail, and by reexamining your customer communications, you could unearth substantial cost savings and create unique cross-selling opportunities with new mail formats.

Savings Recognizing the growing uncertainty of government entitlements like Social Security, baby boomers approaching retirement age turn to their financial services providers to help them manage CD and IRA investments.  As rates change and maturity dates approach, it’s critical to communicate these adjustments to customers to help them remain on track for a sound financial future. 

In addition, as customers enter retirement, relocations or changes in other personal information are to be expected.  Why not leverage your customer communications to keep customer records current, enabling you to better serve your customer base? 

Commercial Billing Commercial billing services provided by your organization eliminate the risk of non-payment which your customers face, but can substantially increase your payments associated with postage.  Thirty-day, 60-day and 90-day notices require regular distribution and timely delivery.  Consider optimizing your mail piece design and work with your USPS contact to take advantage of presort discounts and zip code routing, which may lend substantial savings.   

Real Estate and Installment Loans In today’s turbulent housing market, interest rates are fluctuating, delinquencies are on the rise and debt continues to mount.  As a result, financial services providers are seeing an increase in the number of past due, rate change, short billing and insurance expiration notices required. 

By properly planning your mail pieces and incorporating creative design, kitting, folding or inserting, you can not only save on postage but also provide your customers with supplemental information to help them keep their finances on track. 

Safe Deposit Box Your customers trust you to protect family valuables, such as insurance policies, titles and birth certificates, so it’s no surprise that they also trust you to keep them informed of changes affecting annual renewal terms or automatic account deductions for their safe deposit boxes. 

With such valuables at stake, it’s best to run your mailing lists through address quality software, such as the Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS), to ensure your mailings are “move updated” and reaching the intended recipients.  By properly cleansing your lists, you could reap the rewards of postage discounts pertaining to address quality. 

In today’s highly regulated environment and with postal rates continuing to rise, financial services providers are always looking for ways to cut costs.  As you examine your customer communications, keep in mind that in addition to postage savings, operational savings abound.  Outsourcing the production and distribution of your customer notices not only frees up valuable company resources, but also provides an added layer of disaster-recovery protection and eliminates fixed costs associated with equipment.

Contact Standard Register today to discover how you can optimize your spending on postage and transform your customer communications with our customer notice solutions.