any tips on how to save money on mailers?
Investor · Covington, LA · Member since 2012 · 517 posts · 317 votes
Just starting out in wholesaling and have narrowed down a list of potential sellers I want to contact in my area. I am about to send out a couple thousand letters but I haven't bought stamps in years, what do they go for these days .43 ?
Is there any cheaper ways to do this or buying a lot of books of stamps pretty much my only option? any bulk rates or anything like that?
Jerry
your comment was a huge insult. I certainly don't offer a push button approach. If I cared about my botton line alone I wouldn't offer all of the free services we do without regard if you buy something from us.
You're correct with your opinion that 1000 letters is waste of time if you're decisions are solely based upon a signed purchase agreement.
The biggest issue with marketing isn't the media or message its the fulfillment system. Most don't yet understand how to value and close.
With that said I have plenty of customers who have success on minimal marketing however that's more like a lottery then on purpose.
Chris, I don't think anyone here got that impression. I certainly didn't. If you're in business, it's your duty to keep your eye on the bottom line.
The response you got here took direct aim at the naivety of the statement:
"So if I send out 1,000 letters and it cost me $500+ if I don't get a single deal out of it, then it's probably not something I should continue doing"
As a matter of fact, you could leave the money out of it all together
("So if I send out 1,000 letters and I don't get a single deal out of it, then it's probably not something I should continue doing.")
and you would have gotten the same response. At least from me. Just didn't want to see you get frustrated and quit like so many do if their initial effort doesn't produce immediate fruit.
It can often take several mailings before you have contract number 1, AND, results from your first mailing will continue to trickle in, sometimes over a year later. Can't tell you how many people call months later and say they've held on to my card.
And back to your more obvious question, the only way I've really been able to save is by buying paper, ink, and envelopes in bulk. Postage itself is a fixed cost beyond our control.
Sure it can cost HUNDREDS depend on what you want to do:
This is from the post office web site: (Under USPS.com's "Business Mail 101")
Regardless of the method of postage payment you chose, if you mail in bulk you must pay an annual mailing fee. This fee is separate from any other application fees or account deposits. There is no special form to fill out each year when renewing the fee.
Paying the annual mailing fee gives you permission to mail a certain class of mail from a certain postal facility for 365 days. For instance, you would need to have two different permits to mail presorted First-Class Mail and Standard Mail bulk mailings from the same office.
You cannot mail in bulk at commercial prices until you pay your annual mailing fee. However, mailers presenting full-service Intelligent Mail barcode mailings for First-Class Mail or Standard Mail letters and flats or Bound Printed Matter flats, with 90 percent or more qualifying pieces, may have their annual mailing fee waived under specific permits. Your business mail entry office can provide more information on discounts.
Mailing From More Than One Place
Generally, you must hold a mailing permit and pay an annual mailing fee at every Post Office where you want to enter and pay for your mail.
So if you want to keep mailing every year, there is an annual fee; if you want to mail from multiple POs (if you use two different printers and each enter their mail into a different PO) and so on.
Rather than getting your own permit you can use the printer's permit for a fee and they can take care of everything. Doing it all yourself is not for the faint of heart and not cost-effective for the one-off marketer.
I know this post is a bit old but this may help out somebody. I used to sell coupons on ebay and spent a fortune on postage/supplies. I spoke with one of the CSRs and she said that if I had a couple hundred to mail at once (only happened on mondays so I never persued this) to check with the chamber of commerce and for a fee you can use their machine and whatnot without having to pay all the set up fees. I don't know the details so you may need to google some more info or talk to someone at the post office.
Being one of those coupon queens you see on TV long before it was cool to be one, these are the tips to save on supplies.
The first and not such a huge discount is to buy pre stamped envelopes on ebay. They aren't discounted heavily and it's been awhile since I bought them but it's similar to getting the envies for free.
The way I would typically save:
1: buy empty ink cartridges on ebay. I typically bought 1000 for $200 shipped. At each of the office supply stores I have an account set up. each store allows a reward credit per cartridge.
2: Turn ink carts in at store ie Staples is the easiest. The last time I turned them in it was a limit of 10 for $2 each for a total of $20 a month. They email the rewards to you and then you spend them like a gift card. They don't work on postage though.
3: Check the ads and the week that most appeals to you is the week you spend the rewards. Don't just go out and buy when they come in your inbox. The last time I bought envies they were on sale for $3 a box of 500. I decided to stock up like a crazy coupon queen and then closed my ebay store 3 months later so it will be a year or 5 before I run out.
4: Keep checking your ads and when cases of paper are FREE after rewards or rebate go ahead and buy it. I think I have 8 cases left but hey at least that will last me a few years too. Don't use your rewards on rewards items though. You can't double up anymore. That's on printer paper but there were a year or 2 that officemax did yellow legal pad packs for free after rewards and you can buy 2 of each item per day so up to 14 per week
Hope that helps somebody I know I saved thousands a year and that was with a lot less volume.