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| P2P Magazine | Autumn 2015
01732 759725
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Going, going, gone
Livestock auctioneer McCartneys has transformed outbound mail
processing with the help of a Neopost DS-200 folder-inserter
system, inserting into DL, C4, C5 and C6
envelopes, with the option to include up
to 50 pages in each envelope. A 15-inch
graphical touch screen allows users to
access a multitude of finishing options to
design and deliver bespoke messages.
In addition to the DS-200, Neopost
supplied Data Improver software, a web-
based address management solution
that makes it easy for non-technical
staff to maintain accurate customer and
prospect address information.
Enhanced productivity
The system has only been in place a
few months but, according to Mary, the
benefits are already being felt.
“The installation and training
went very well and the benefits were
immediately apparent. Before, much of
my time was spent filling envelopes. In
all, three members of staff spent three
days every week preparing the mailings
for posting out.With the DS-200 it now
takes just a few hours with most of the
work done by the machine once it’s
set-up. The Data Improver software also
means we are more confident about
the accuracy of our data and have fewer
items returned as a result,” she said.
Mary added: “It has saved us so
much time and energy, performing a
mundane and routine task. The DS-200
has only been installed a few months
so it’s not possible yet to give a figure
on the eventual cost saving, but the
business proposal presented by Neopost
anticipates that the total benefit to the
business could be over £15,200 a year.”
McCartneys LLP is a livestock
auctioneer with five livestock centres
in four counties. The company also
operates a chain of 20 estate agent
and chartered surveyor offices in the
Welsh Marches, mid-Wales and the
West Midlands.
The main livestock centre is in Ludlow
and it is from here that the company
posts 700 market reports every Tuesday
morning and 1,500 catalogues for
livestock sales every two weeks.
Receptionist and administrator Mary
Uffold found it a challenging task. “It
took a lot of staff time and resources,
but it’s an essential part of our business.
I have been with the company for seven
years and the bulk mailings have always
been managed manually.”
As a Neopost customer, McCartneys
receives regular visits from its Neopost
Account Manager. “We already had
a Neopost franking machine and our
Account Manager asked me if we had
ever considered using a folder-inserter
machine to automate our regular bulk
mailings. He worked out the costings
including projected savings and they
looked very attractive. So we agreed
to give the machine a trial period,”
explained Mary.
Automated processes
The solution in question, the Neopost
DS-200 folder-inserter, automatically
collates and assembles all documents for
inclusion, before folding them together
and inserting them into an envelope at a
speed of up to 4,800 envelopes per hour.
The DS-200 is a highly versatile
Your place or mine?
With its Neopost franking machine and DS-200
folder-inserter, McCartneys LLP is set up to handle
peaks in outbound mail volumes. Another option for
small and medium-sized businesses that don’t have
the capacity to cope easily with mass mailings, such
as bills or statements, is to outsource the printing
and mailing of postal communications.
There are many so-called hybrid mail providers that
will print, insert and post mailings on behalf of customers
more quickly and sometimes more cheaply than
businesses can do in-house.
New services offered both by Neopost and Pitney
Bowes combine hybrid mail with cloud-based customer
communications management that can help SMEs
implement a digitisation strategy.
Essentially, Neopost NeoPreference with Hybrid Mail
and Pitney Bowes Relay enable organisations to introduce
multi-channel customer communications, automatically
sending communications by the post or digital channels,
such as email or web link, depending on each customer’s
preference.
Shifting transactional and marketing mail from postal
to digital channels where appropriate enables SMEs to
save money by reducing their print and postage bill,
speed up processes and improve customer satisfaction by
letting customers decide how to receive messages.
The centralised preparation, delivery and archiving of
all communications, paper and electronic, makes it easier
to search for and retrieve communications however they
are despatched.
The integration of hybrid mail builds on these benefits
by enabling SMEs to streamline mailings to customers
who still have a preference for postal communications.
Instead of having to print, insert and post letters and
associated documents themselves, SMEs can outsource
the task to Neopost or Pitney Bowes, from within the
system, and reduce their expenditure on office supplies
and postage and time spent on manual processing.
