Five Easy Pieces:
Five Guidelines for Eco-Friendly and
Cost-Effective Mail
Management Practices
Introduction
Many
of the worlds’ enterprises, large and small, are committed to environmental
sustainability by launching innovative programs. A significant number of these initiatives
are not only reducing energy consumption and waste, but also saving money – a
critical element of any corporate strategy in today’s challenging economy. To
help promote these goals in the document management arena, Océ Business
Services periodically shares our insights on implementing sustainable and
cost-effective practices across the document lifecycle, which spans document creation
through disposal.
Five
Easy Pieces
There
are several mail management practices that can help companies reach both their
environmental and cost-reduction goals. From the sustainability perspective,
these practices can significantly reduce the use of paper, thereby saving
trees, gas in shipping the paper and physical space to store it. From the
financial perspective, respondents participating in Océ industry surveys have indicated
that mail and shipping practices have a high impact on reducing costs, driving
faster time to market and improving operational efficiency.
Following
are five mail management practices that can help organizations improve the
environment as well as drive the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of their
operations.
House list hygiene
Companies
can lose a substantial amount of money by not updating their mailing lists.
It’s estimated that two percent of all mail is returned and the total cost of
re-mail is $3.50 to $4.50 per mail piece. The need to update is a constant
challenge because about 15 to 20 percent of consumers and businesses move every
year. The solution: save money and paper by regularly updating mailing lists to
limit duplication and waste. Make sure that addresses are correct before the
mail goes out, and when a mail piece is returned undelivered, update the
database as soon as possible before the next mailing cycle. Consistently
updating databases can have a significant, positive impact on sustainability
and cost-reduction initiatives.
Document design
dividends
Paying
attention to document design can reap solid dividends. For example, printing on
both sides of the paper (duplex printing) can substantially cut paper use and
reduce mailing costs. Simply decreasing the margin and font size can reduce the
number of pages in a document. Additionally, variable data and document
composition tools enable companies to combine two documents/ mailings into one.
One example of this approach is TransPromo, in which a
document is created that combines a piece of transactional printing, such as a
bill statement, with promotional or marketing content - all in one document.
Defaulting to duplex
While
mentioned earlier as an element of document design, duplex printing is a major
cost-effective and sustainable practice worthy of additional mention. Most multi-page documents don’t require the text to be
printed on one side of the page. Newspapers, magazines and books use both
sides. Companies can decrease paper use by up to 50 percent by making duplex
printing the norm, a move that can also help the environment. Océ implemented a
green campaign as a joint effort to help a financial services company client reduce
paper usage. Through initiatives such as moving print production to copiers
that can print on both sides of a page, the company acknowledged that Océ
helped it significantly reduce paper consumption and realize thousands of
dollars in cost savings.”
Certified paper
trails
The United States Postal Service (USPS) recommends that when sourcing paper, make sure it comes from forests managed with practices certified by independent, third-party organizations such as the Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI). SFI forest certification promotes responsible forestry practices. To be certified, forest operations across the
Greening direct mail
In
a sustainability campaign, the USPS asked “How ‘green’ in your direct mail?”
Organizations have many opportunities to lessen the environmental impact of
direct mail, which accounts for 2.3 percent of landfill waste. One way to spare
the environment is the inks. Companies can look for agri-based inks and use
them whenever possible as well as opt for less ink usage/coverage (fewer colors
mean fewer chemicals). Working with the right business partners also can help.
Companies can seek out partners located nearby in order to minimize
transportation, reducing cost and using less fuel. Two other initiatives
include finding vendors that use renewable energy sources and using
print-on-demand technology instead of printing large quantities and warehousing
them until they’re needed.
Any
organization can implement these strategies – internally or with an outsourcing
partner – to benefit the bottom line as well as the environment. As many
companies are demonstrating every day, green business can also be good
business.
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