5 Ways to Improve Your Mail Operations

5 Ways to Improve Your Mail Operations 

Managing the mail operations and solutions in a mail center is an important and challenging task, but these helpful tips can help you solve common issues that mail centers may come across. This post is inspired by the webinar The Top Concerns of Mail Center Managers and discusses how to improve five vital aspects of mail operations: carrier communications, employee education, staff motivation, inbound mail tracking, and containing mailing costs. In this post, which is the first of a two part series, we will discuss better carrier communications, better employee education, and better staff training and motivation.

 1. Better Carrier Communication some common issues with the carrier communication include keeping up with changing regulations and pricing and unclear communication channels. To mitigate these issues, you can: Get involved with your local Postal Customer Council (PCC). PCCs exist to improve relationships with local business mailers and educate business mailers with programs and seminars. You can go to the USPS website to find a PCC near you and get involved. Sign up for Postal Explorer for access to a price calculator, a domestic mail manual (DMM) and advisory, a quick service guide, international mail information, and more. You should also regularly visit www.pe.usps.com to stay informed. Visit a local USPS Business Center to stay updated and get your questions answered. Sign up for the Business Customer Gateway on the USPS website.

2. Better Employee Education It’s important to educate employees in your organization in order to prevent late drop offs, last minute jobs, improperly prepared mail, and improper service requests. Some strategies that can improve employee education include: Holding mailing service classes for all newly hired personnel, similar to an orientation. Providing and circulating weekly mailer tips, just one or two a week, to help your team learn how to improve the quality of mail and reduce mail costs. Becoming more involved with all department managers. Surveying department managers quarterly to better understand their areas of concern and discuss service quality. This promotes helpful feedback and can lead to mail center improvement for all parties involved. Developing a mail services guide with general information on internal and inter-office mail, USPS mail, alternative delivery services, new ideas, mail center security, and other useful links. This can be implemented through mail solutions like Postal Explorer and Pitney Bowes Postal Advisor.

3. Better Staff Training & Motivation To improve mail processes and retain employees, you should also train and motivate your team. That way, you can prevent unreasonable expectations and keep employees engaged. Some great tactics for improving staff training and motivation are: Cross-training on jobs, so that employees develop more diverse skill sets. For example, they may know how to operate the mailing machine, but they can also learn how to run your addressing, inserting, and shipping systems. This increases esteem and makes team members feel more valuable. It also provides flexibility for your company, in case team members go on vacation or leave the company. You can do this using Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS). Holding goal-setting and information sessions, such as weekly team meetings, to discuss the previous weeks or upcoming projects, to increase alignment, or even for additional training, Re-evaluate and upgrade job descriptions to reflect a more accurate image of job activities. This establishes clearer expectations of employees, creates a path for employee growth, and allows for new and exciting responsibilities for long-term team members. Enabling training outside of the mail center, such as with Pitney Bowes mail management seminars, Pitney Bowes webinars, and PCCs.

 

As we discussed in Part 1 of this guide, managing the mail operations and solutions in a mail center is an important and challenging task. This post is inspired by the webinar The Top Concerns of Mail Center Managers and discusses how to improve five vital aspects of mail operations: carrier communications, employee education, staff motivation, inbound and outbound mail tracking, and containing mailing costs.

In this post we will discuss better inbound and outbound tracking and better mailing cost containment.

4. Better Inbound and Outbound Tracking Tracking prevents incomplete addresses on mailing pieces and creates more accountable mail. Some mail solutions that can help you improve your tracking system include:

 •Have a centralized receiving location, that way you can make sure the carrier is delivering as promised and your company can immediately inspect packages for damages. This also helps your company to validate the number of inbound packages

 •Use inbound package management tracking software, so that you’re able to scan items coming in.

 •Use VeriMove Net for mailing list management and to keep up with official USPS changes of address.

 •Use SmartMailer to eliminate duplicate and undeliverable addresses from your mailing list.

5. Better Mailing Cost Containment  In order to contain mailing and shipping costs, you should analyze and reconsider the type, class, department, and frequency of your mail pieces. To successful contain costs, you should:

 •Choose the proper envelope size. The size and shape of your mailings affects the price. For example: •A post card is 33 cents and can be up to 6 by 4 inches and a quarter inch high.

 •A letter is 46 cents and can be up to 6 1/8 by 11 1/2 inches and a quarter inch high. A letter can be no more than 3.5 ounces.

 •A flat envelope is 92 cents and can be up to 12 by 15 inches and ¾ inches thick. A flat has to be flexible.

 •A parcel is $2.07 and or more.

•“If it fits, it ships” is not always the best choice for lighter items going further distances. For examples, a medium flat rate box is $11, but, using regular shipping, a 2-pound item only costs $9.88. Locally, you can send up to 11 pounds for less than a flat rate box.

 •Unknown to most, priority mail has the exact same delivery time as first class mail. They both provide 2-3 day delivery coast to coast. First class items are also significantly cheaper than priority mail. For example, it costs $3.77 to ship a 13 oz. parcel through first class mail and $5.25 for a legal flat rate envelope sent by priority mail.

 •Use extra services strategically. The USPS extra services are proof of mailing, proof of delivery, and protection in transit. Make sure to consider the full range of offerings and compare and contrast the costs of your options to get the best deals.

 •Utilize the accounting functions that are provided on mailing machines tab from Pitney Bowes. These accountability functions can help team members make more prudent decisions about how they spend.