| As the market leader in providing the world with mailstream solutions, we have compiled a guide to help you get the most from your mail. Within this guide you'll find information on: |
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Improving mail delivery times |
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Reducing postal costs |
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Cleaning up mail lists |
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Sending parcels the easy way |
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| Pricing in Proportion – save up to 33% of your postal costs |
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| Pricing in Proportion was introduced in August 2006 by Royal Mail which means instead of pricing letters and packets purely on their weight, Royal Mail prices them on their size and thickness too. |
| This means that there are three size categories: |
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| Mail Formats |
Max. Thickness |
Weights |
Typical Contents |
Letter (up to C5) |
5mm |
0g-100g |
Most letters, postcards, bills & statements |
Large Letter (up to C4) |
25mm |
0g-750g |
Letters containing unfolded A4 paper, most brochures & CDs |
Packet (Over C4)
>353mm long or >250mm wide or
>750g in weight |
Over 25mm |
0g-1000g |
VHS cassettes, books, parts & samples |
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| How can you take advantage of these formats? |
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1. |
Fold your A4 mail in half – A C4 envelope sent First Class would be classed as a large letter and require a £0.48 stamp, but by folding it in half to make C5 it would need a £0.34 stamp. If you were also to meter this mail rather than use stamps, it would save you an extra 2p on each letter, saving you a total of 33%. |
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Fill up your envelope – The weight for standard First Class letter post increased from 60g to 100g, giving you the opportunity to include additional promotional material to your statements without significantly increasing the cost of your mail. Used in combination with folding your A4 mail in half, you can potentially save more. |
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| Further information on pricing in proportion is available here. You’ll find lots of helpful information including a comprehensive list of answers to some frequently asked questions as well as a guide to what PB are doing to ensure our customers can take full advantage of these discounts. |
| Tips for reducing postal costs |
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By using a franking machine, you'll save at least 2p off the price of each First Class and Second Class piece of mail. If you only send 200 standard letters a week, you can save over £200 a year. And if you send more, you will save even more.
You could earn up to 12% discount using Cleanmail Advance as long as you send more than 1000 letters, are able to sort your mail and have 95% full and accurate addresses and postcodes.
Find out more here |
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| Clean up your mailing lists for FREE |
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Businesses lose £000’s each year sending post to people who have moved and can no longer be found. Until 4th October 2004, Royal Mail returned this post to the sender by opening the mail and finding an address, or via the franking machine licence number, but now this has stopped.
Don’t let your mail get destroyed. By adding a return address to your advertising plate you can ensure that your undeliverable mail is returned to you FREE of charge, so that you can clean up your database and improve the accuracy of your mail.
For information on creating a return address advertising plate for your franking machine call one of our advisors on 08705 252525, option 2 (sales enquiries), followed by option 1 (ordering an ad plate). |
| Sending parcels the easy way |
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It doesn’t matter if you are registered account customer of Parcelforce or not, you can now order, pay for and arrange a pick up of a parcel without moving from your chair.
You are able to do this because Parcelforce’s new online service enables you to: |
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Enter your parcel details online. |
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Select where the parcel needs to be collected from and delivered to. |
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Organise a label online, or print your own on a local printer |
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| Parcelforce will then collect the parcel from you, and you are able to track its progress and see the recipient's signature online. All you need to do is check the parcel's dimensions & weight. What's more, if you pay for your online order through your franking machine with Parcelforce's new payment service, Frank Pay, you can save £1 on Parcelforce Worldwide |
| Further information is available from their website, www.parcelforce.co.uk |
| If you would like to download a copy of this fact sheet, click here |
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