How Presort Mailing Works

The United States Postal Service prides itself on being a stable, economic provider of mailing needs, able to meet and solve most logistical challenges along the way. With thousands of locations across the country, many with flexible hours, they still competitively position themselves against mailing competitors.

It is no secret that the primary reason that the USPS remains competitive is because of their cheaper prices. Despite complaints about customer service and other issues, they still inarguably remain the most pocketbook-friendly mailing service. This is a practically a necessity, considering they are a federal government service for millions of consumers that regularly take advantage of their services. One method that can save even more money is presort mail, also known as bulk mailing.

Although the implementation can be complex, the idea is simple: Whenever the post office receives pieces of mail, they must be sorted for distribution. Sometimes businesses, or relevant private interest, drop off thousands of pieces of mail at a time for their mailings. What if these businesses sorted the mail before it arrived at the post office, thus saving time and the expense of hours worked?

Once an organization receives a bulk mailing permit from the local post office, the Postal Service will actually offer a steep discount on their mail, per piece, if it arrives presorted. Considering that first-class mail can get expensive when you are talking about thousands of items at a time, presort mail can be a significant source of savings, often slashing more than 50% off the total mailing cost!

Even if a company does not have the workforce, nor the time, to facilitate sorting each mailing before dropping it off, there are many places that will sort mailings as a service. These can be found just like any other business in a directory; if online searches do not work, try calling a commercial design or printing service. These locations almost always know of a local mail-sorting service, or they have an in-house department that will perform as well.

Usually, presort mail is only worthwhile if dealing with hundreds of pieces per mailing. In fact, the minimum for a bulk mailing is 200 pieces, and that is only if they meet certain criteria. After all is considered, though, presort mailing can definitely be worthwhile for organizations that use a lot of pieces in their direct mailers. More information can be found at the United States Postal Servicewebsite, including specifics on how to prepare bulk mailings.