Master Manufacturer : Co-mail Confusion
Do you know how much you’re really saving?
October 2008 By Steven W. Frye
Co-mailing—the process in which a mailer (usually your printer) combines the mailing of your magazine with that of other titles—isn't a new process. However, chances are you've only performed one or two postal analyses utilizing co-mailing techniques. And, when you did your analyses, you may have misunderstood how much you would be "saving" by co-mailing.
By its very nature, analyzing co-mailing costs is difficult because it is a moving target. With each mailing pool, the participants change; therefore, quantities, weights and destinations change, resulting in different costs.
To make matters more confusing, the mailers use different methods, equipment, terminology, billing procedures, and numbers and sizes of pools per week. Yet, they all promise huge savings!
The question is: savings compared to what? Here's an important tip: Ignore the word "savings" in every mailing bid. The mailers use the word much differently than publishers. Mailers use it to show the difference between co-mailing your title(s) and other mailing options, such as direct entry, dynamic entry (drop-ship) or co-palletization. It is not the difference between what you currently pay for postage and what they propose.
Because co-mailing is a moving target, mailers use direct entry as a means to establish a baseline for comparative purposes. However, direct entry is the most expensive way to enter the postal system, and it is rarely used anymore. Most printers have been drop-shipping and co-palletizing for decades, and chances are your titles have been, too. Therefore, you have not been paying the highest possible postal rates—those from which mailers are calculating co-mail "savings."
Your job is to figure out your true savings—the difference between what you currently pay and what they are proposing.
Finding out what you currently pay is the easy part. After every mailing, the USPS gives you a receipt called Form 3541 (3206 for nonprofits). If you mail versions, each version of your magazine gets a 3541, so each mailing may have many pages.
Understanding your potential savings is where the process becomes more complicated. An important tip in this process is to control it from the very beginning by submitting actual data used in a previous mailing for comparative purposes, defining all possible cost elements and calculating your own true savings.
Who Are the Co-Mailers?
Your printer, usually, is your mailer. Larger publication printers, including RR Donnelley, Quebecor World, Quad/Graphics, Fry Communications and Brown Printing Co., have invested in co-mailing equipment and even built dedicated mailing facilities.
By its very nature, analyzing co-mailing costs is difficult because it is a moving target. With each mailing pool, the participants change; therefore, quantities, weights and destinations change, resulting in different costs.
To make matters more confusing, the mailers use different methods, equipment, terminology, billing procedures, and numbers and sizes of pools per week. Yet, they all promise huge savings!
The question is: savings compared to what? Here's an important tip: Ignore the word "savings" in every mailing bid. The mailers use the word much differently than publishers. Mailers use it to show the difference between co-mailing your title(s) and other mailing options, such as direct entry, dynamic entry (drop-ship) or co-palletization. It is not the difference between what you currently pay for postage and what they propose.
Because co-mailing is a moving target, mailers use direct entry as a means to establish a baseline for comparative purposes. However, direct entry is the most expensive way to enter the postal system, and it is rarely used anymore. Most printers have been drop-shipping and co-palletizing for decades, and chances are your titles have been, too. Therefore, you have not been paying the highest possible postal rates—those from which mailers are calculating co-mail "savings."
Your job is to figure out your true savings—the difference between what you currently pay and what they are proposing.
Finding out what you currently pay is the easy part. After every mailing, the USPS gives you a receipt called Form 3541 (3206 for nonprofits). If you mail versions, each version of your magazine gets a 3541, so each mailing may have many pages.
Understanding your potential savings is where the process becomes more complicated. An important tip in this process is to control it from the very beginning by submitting actual data used in a previous mailing for comparative purposes, defining all possible cost elements and calculating your own true savings.
Who Are the Co-Mailers?
Your printer, usually, is your mailer. Larger publication printers, including RR Donnelley, Quebecor World, Quad/Graphics, Fry Communications and Brown Printing Co., have invested in co-mailing equipment and even built dedicated mailing facilities.
How to Do a Co-Mail Analysis
Find out how much you are really saving (or not saving!) by co-mailing and whether or not you could save more with another partner. Check out Publishing Executive's November issue for Steve Frye's step-by-step guide to doing a co-mail analysis.
Find out how much you are really saving (or not saving!) by co-mailing and whether or not you could save more with another partner. Check out Publishing Executive's November issue for Steve Frye's step-by-step guide to doing a co-mail analysis.
Sorry, Dan, you are absolutely correct, I accidentally left out any mention of PPC's co-distribution capabilities. PPC has been a leader of comailing shorter run titles, the true beneficiary of the technology. My regrets.
You left out an important mid-size printer who also offers in-house co-mailing, Publishers Press. Utiliziing slightly smaller pools than the larger mailers we can get the mail out the door quicker and also offer co-mailing for polybagged copies, Tabloid size magazines and Standard Mail.