[mrusk]

I just got off the phone with my local direct mail business. The guy recommend me mailing out 8x5.5 postcards. He told me i am better off mailing to whole carrier routes in the areas i want.

Here is the break down:

.18 postage per piece
$50 per a thousand for his services.
Post cards will run my around 81.25 per a k with shipping if i buy them online

So i am looking at $311.15 per a k mailed. I think that pretty damn good. The area where i am looking to mail is very high end. Median household income over 90k.

If we do select mailing,with a purchased mailing list i am looking at almost .28 a piece. Thats a big difference in price. I think i am better off going with the carrier route. I am thinking 4 mailing of 5k, 3 of 6500, or 2 at 10000.

Matt
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[Stonehenge]

Hi Matt -

I want to make sure I have the numbers straight -

All told, option one is $0.31 per piece - correct?

All told, option 2 is $0.28 per piece.

Even at a few cents per piece differene, if the mailing is sizable enough, that can be a big difference.

We'll be doing ours with first class postage for about $.31 per piece (though we're doing the labeling work) - the companies I've spoken to have quoted packages (including mailing list, printing and postage - the whole thing) for around $.40-.$.50 per piece. So if you're getting them for $.31, I'd say you have a pretty good deal.

[mrusk]

Stonehedge. I just realized i typed it wrong. With the carrier route i am at .18 per a piece for postage. If i do a list sorted by income, etc... i am looking at .28 a peice for postage. So i was cost me almost .41 per a piece total.

.31 Total for everything... post cards, handeling, and postage. If i mail the carrier routes.

[Stonehenge]

Here's a tip my wife pointed out for me in getting the cost of the list down - each sort parameter you have is going to cost you more money. So if you include only those houses that are $200K and up, and only those people making $80K, the list will cost you more than if you just sorted by home value. The trick is to choose a home value that puts you into the market you want.

If you're doing the mailing yourself, you're not going to pay more than $.24 in postage going first class (so long as the postcard meets the requirements by the post office - 4x6 might be as big as you can go). Privately I can tell you the name of a company that you can get printed pieces for $.03-$.04 apiece, including shipping to your doorstep. Full color, both sides, glossy UV coating. The mailing list should cost you around $.03-.04 per address, depending on how you sort it. Labels and ink s/b around $.01 apiece.

So look at how you value your time to see if it could be worthwhile to do it on your own. Otherwise, let your source handle it.

Hope that helps.

[Nebraska]

My estimate for mailing 8,277 is $2849.50. We provide the list of names. It does include printing 10,000 4x6 postcards with the excess back to us, postage, sorting, cass cert, address, remove duplicates from list, postal sorting, and delivery to the post office.

This is a large local company where the owner and I grew up together, hung out together, were roomates in college etc...

Probably not much of a deal but then again I don't give him much of a deal on lawn care and landscaping. Fair though. If you're having trouble or hesitation finding someone to handle it all from printing to mailing or any portion in between I know he would treat you fair. Just let me know.

[mrusk]

This thing is i would be using 5.5x8 post cards. IF i mailed these out myself i'd have to pay .39 for postage. Post cards have to 4x6 for the .24 rate. But if i do the carrier route the guy mail the 5.5x8's for .18 a pop since he presorts them/barcodes them or something like that.

So i think its a smoking deal since they are big post cards.

BTW I live in NJ. In the area where i will be mailing i can almost garantee that there are no homes under 350k. 80% of the homes are over 450k i'd estimate.

[Rob Shauger]

Last year I did 4 1/4 x 6 for .26 cents each which included the postcard and postage and carrier route.

[le machine]

Since I have a very small business I do most of the foot work myself..I had 1145 flyers printed for $155 ..I paid $160 to get a permit # and then another $160 for the annual fee and then another $145 for the postage..for a grand total of $620 that comes out to $.54 per flyer...and then I am driving to the bulk mail center at the Post Office 45 min away they check it and then I bring back to the Post office that I'm mailing it at..Grant it that this is the first time that I have done this and my next mailing of 1400 flyers will only cost me about $365 because I already paid for my permit and annual fee...now those 1145 flyers that I mail out covers the entire town..and the 1400 that I mail out next week will cover another town..but around here dirt is worth more than gold dust..and like I said I'm new to this and probably cheaper ways of doing this..

[fakie99]

i'm getting quotes around the .31 mark as well. i wonder, though, does anyone have any experience with postcard sizing? i would assume that bigger is better, but i wonder if the stats supportt that....

[justgardens]

I had my 4x6 postacards, full color, gloss front, b&w backs for $99.00 for 5,000. I had to design them online myself though. I mailed and labeled( I had to purchase the labels so that was also extra cost) my own for .24 cents a pop though. Your deal sounds good.