On 2nd June 2014 Aust Post Bulk Mail changes will come into effect. There will be new categories for the following bulk mail services; Presort Letters, Charity Mail, Print Post, and Clean Mail.
The old categories for Presort bulk mail and Charity Mail were Regular Delivery and Surface Mail Delivery. Print Post and Clean mail had one category before 2nd June 2014.
The Old Categories – Prior to 2nd June 2014
Regular Delivery
Regular Delivery was the faster option, delivery from metro to metro (same state) next day, metro to country (same state) 2 days, country to country (same state) 2 days, metro to metro (interstate) 2 days, metro to country (interstate) 3 days and country to country (interstate) 4 days.
Surface Mail Delivery
Surface Mail Delivery was the slower more cost efficient option. It was based on delivery from metro to metro (same state) 2-3 days, metro to country (same state) 3-4 days, country to country (same state) 3-4 days, metro to metro (interstate) 3-4 days, metro to country (interstate) 4-5 days and country to country (interstate) 5-6 days.
The New Categories – After 2nd June 2014
The new categories are now Priority and Regular. Essentially Priority now runs on what was Regular, and Regular now runs on what was Surface Mail Delivery.
So the new timetable and scheduling after 2nd June 2014 will be:
Priority Service
Priority Service, delivery from metro to metro (same state) next day, metro to country (same state) 2 days, country to country (same state) 2 days, metro to metro (interstate) 2 days, metro to country (interstate) 3 days and country to country (interstate) 4 days. These timetables are guidelines only.
Regular Service
Regular Service, delivery from metro to metro (same state) 2-3 days, metro to country (same state) 3-4 days, country to country (same state) 3-4 days, metro to metro (interstate) 3-4 days, metro to country (interstate) 4-5 days and country to country (interstate) 5-6 days. These timetables are guidelines only.
Warning! The schedules above are guidelines only, Aust Post will not be held accountable if you have a timed offer and it arrives late. Always allow for a few extra days if possible.
Other Services Affected
Other services that just had the one category such as Print Post and Clean Mail are now also split into the two categories, Priority and Regular.
Is it a huge sting? Well yes. Should we be pissed off, that is your call.
In the scheme of things you will be paying around an extra 7 – 10 cents extra per item which comes to about $350 – $500 on a mail out of 5000 items.
What Can You Do About It
One thing worth looking at is getting your own postage account if you don’t already. Some mail houses will put a mark up on postage, so if you have your own account you can get postage rates straight from Aust Post. That is one way you can save on postage.
If you pay your account within 5 days of the invoice date and the postage exceeded $20,000.00 you may be able to get the Early Payment Incentive (EPI). Speak to your Aust Post Account Manager to find out more.
You can also have a look at ways to try to increase the amount of revenue you are pulling from your mail out campaigns.
If you are running direct mail campaigns you can do a split test on things such as headlines, offers, body text, envelope copy and more to try and increase the amount of sales / conversions you get.
If you are mailing out newsletters or publications for an organisation you could look at doing a joint venture partnership with someone in your industry so you can promote their products or services and start getting a revenue stream out of your mail out.
How We Can Help
If you would like to get a postage audit or you would like to discuss a future direct mail campaign give us a call on 02 4306 0583 or click here to go to our contact page where you can send through your details. We have years of experience and may know of a way that you can reduce your printing and postage costs or increase your ROI.