|
|
 |
The LoDown
News and Information
from the team at Lorton Data
|
|
|
Processing Tips
Save Up To 26.5¢ Per Mail Piece
You can take advantage of postage savings just by adding a couple of address management services before you mail. If you have at least 500 pieces of First-Class Mail®, you can save up to 2.6¢ per piece simply by running your file through the NCOALink® and Presort processes at Lorton Data. Add a barcode for automation, and you can save up to 10¢ per piece.
Additional savings by can be obtained by mailing at Standard Mail® rates. With a minimum of 200 pieces, you can save up to 18.5¢ over the First-Class single piece rate by running your file through the NCOALink and Presort processes. Add a barcode for automation, and you can save up to 20.8¢ per piece. Additionally, if your mail file meets density requirements and is sorted for enhanced carrier route - saturation rates, add the DSF2® process and you can save up to 26.5¢ per piece.
Sending a #10 envelope with a letter inside via First-Class Mail could cost you 45¢, but if you take advantage of all of the discounts above, that same envelope can reach its destination for a mere 18.5¢ - less than half the original cost.
Check out our website for a postage savings chart, or for more details feel free to contact us at 651.203.8290.
|
|
Did You Know...
Picture Permit Imprint Indicia Approved As USPS® Offering
Beginning June 24, 2012, the USPS will accept the use of a Picture Permit in the permit imprint indicia area of mail pieces. The Picture Permit allows commercial mailers to include color images such as logos, trademarks, and brand images on the indicia. This provides immediate recognition of companies' logos, products, promotions, and brands, and boosts the value and visual impact of First-Class Mail and Standard Mail pieces.
Mailers have the option to apply Picture Permits to mail pieces that are being presented as part of a Full-Service mailing of Standard Mail letters, First-Class Mail letters, or postcards. The cost for First-Class Mail letters and postcards will be 1 cent per piece and for Standard Mail letters 2 cents per piece, in addition to normal postage.
Mailers and mail service providers may apply in advance to take advantage of the offering by the June 24, 2012 implementation date. Approval and sampling can take up to 30-45 days. Picture Permit designs must conform to USPS specifications, and sample mail pieces must be submitted for testing and approval.
Information on applying for Picture Permit, including registration and program requirements, can be found on https://www.usps.com/business/picture-permit.htm
|
|
Online Poll of the Month
How valuable do you feel the new Help Yourself feature (highlighted in the Products and Services article) will be for you?
|
|
|
|
Special Interest
In The Matter Of Cloud v. Software
Over the years we've watched Salesforce.com bring its brand and offering to life using an aggressive anti-software campaign. As a brand development strategy, this has been pure gold. After all, when you're trying to change the way people think, a certain amount of ideological dogma may be necessary. Taking an extreme posture like this tends to attract attention and jolt people into considering an alternative to existing ways.
Lorton Data took a slightly softer approach by poking fun at software when we introduced our cloud-based A-Qua Mailer™ in 2009. You may remember our ad campaign, or the Facebook contest, where we invited postal software owners to "send their software on a permanent vacation." As clever and successful as these campaigns might have been, it's good to recognize that not every problem computer software can solve is best delivered exclusively via the cloud. Another reality worth noting is that without software, neither Salesforce.com nor A-Qua Mailer would exist. That is, if you removed the software from these two offerings, you'd be left with internet connected computing power that does nothing.
As cloud computing continues its march toward the dominant platform, it may be useful to adopt a both/and stance about cloud v. software - particularly when it comes to applications that have hardware connectivity requirements. The closer applications get to machinery, the more likely there is value in a local software layer, even if that software reaches for the cloud to deliver certain services.
|
|
Products and Services
Coming Soon: Help Yourself To 24/7 Job Processing
If you use A-Qua Mailer or Extended Services, it's possible you have received an email from our system that started with "Message Concerning Job." These emails are sent by our A-Qua™ platform to let you know that a job has been flagged for analyst review. If this sounds familiar, read on for important news.
While these emails let you know that your job is on hold, they do not currently provide information to help you understand why the job was stopped for review. A new feature will provide you more information and the ability to manage your job flow. When released, if our system identifies something notable about your file or job, it will send an email describing what was found. For example, if a file was sent for NCOALink processing, but it did not contain addresses, or it had less than 100 unique records, an email would notify you of the specific error, tell you that your job was cancelled, and inform you that a new file should be submitted. In another case, our system may find that important fields are empty for a high percentage of records in a file you submitted. The email you'll receive in this case will ask if you want to run the job as-is, cancel it, or request help. In essence, you'll be able to manage your jobs directly for the majority of common conditions that currently require an analyst's review.
In building this feature, we gathered input from several users and we are looking for more feedback. Please tell us what you think by taking the poll located on the side panel of this newsletter. Additionally, if you have ideas you think we should consider, please contact us at support@lortondata.com.
As we gear up for the release of this feature, we will be providing more detailed educational materials to help you take advantage of the new functionality.
|
|
|
| |
|
