Improve your mailing operations by leaps and bounds
Who couldn’t use a couple of extra hours a day? While 2024 brings new opportunities and challenges, it is also a Leap Year. What does that mean besides one more day in February? An extra calendar day to get things done.
You may take advantage of the extra time by tackling tasks at work that had to be pushed aside for sheer time’s sake. As budgets get tighter and staff gets leaner, you may be struggling to find ways to save time and optimize productivity. For example, the cumulative effect of inefficient mailing processes greatly impacts your productivity and adds unnecessary spending over time. However, many inefficient processes can be automated so you don’t have to wait every four years for an extra day to get things done.
We understand your time is precious, so here is a quick list of the top 4 office timewasters that slow employees down (one for every year in between) and what you can do to gain some extra hours every day.
1. Manual mailing and document processes
Whether you’re sorting through documents, or stuffing envelopes by hand, manual processes are the biggest productivity eaters, taking employees away from important business tasks. One of the best ways to automate your mailing process is with a folder inserter. Folder inserters can cut processing time by 75% or more. With a folder inserter, one person can do the job of many in a fraction of the time and can save at least 8 hours per month in mail prep time. In turn, this reduces labor costs and frees higher-value employees to focus on growing the business. You can see a more detailed breakdown of the labor and cost savings in our Folder Inserter Buyer’s Guide.
Manual processes are also error-prone and expose your business to unnecessary issues and risks. Not only can this lead to customer dissatisfaction, but it can affect payment cycles and delay cash flow. Did you know that 39% of all invoices sent in the US are paid late and 61% of late payments are due to mistakes and errors? In this case, time also equals money. Mail is an important business function that drives cash flow, but it doesn’t need to be done by hand.
2. Finding documents and files
Nearly half (49%) of American workers struggle to locate documents. Studies have shown on average, workers spend up to 4.5 hours per week just searching for documents. For example, if your business sends Certified Mail™, how much time does your staff spend tracking and archiving those traditional green cards? You can simplify the preparation, tracking, and storage of your Certified Mail with Return Receipt™ with an electronic Certified Mail™ solution. You will save 15% overall versus using traditional Certified Mail and save 36% on the cost of sending Certified Mail with Electronic Return Receipt.
3. Unnecessary trips to the post office
Ever calculate how much time it takes employees to do a Post Office run? Aside from Certified Mail, using stamps or shipping packages requires going to the post office if you don’t have a postage meter. Postage meters offer multiple benefits, from saving 6% on each letter to eliminating the risk of under or overpaying. Postage meters enable 24/7 access and, depending on your mail volume, make you eligible for commercial-base pricing as well as make tracking and billbacks easy.
4. Poor data quality
Wrong addresses lead to undeliverable mail, which not only equals missed opportunities but wasted time and postage. Did you know it takes as many as 10 to 15 days for undeliverable mail to be returned to your office? Think of all the invoices with yellow stickers that didn’t get delivered. What is that doing to your cash flow? Integrating address quality software ensures you use the best data to save on postage costs.
Leap into time and cost savings.
Wouldn’t it be great to save time and money every day? Consider spending a few hours on February 29 assessing your mailing operations to see if one or more of those solutions would benefit your organization. Why wait four years for an extra day when you can boost productivity daily? Many of these solutions pay for themselves in a relatively short time.
Quadient’s easy-to-use mailing software and hardware helps companies of all sizes simplify, automate, and modernize document preparation, reduce compliance risk, and improve the mail outreach process. Thousands of companies trust Quadient to enhance the mail preparation process and ensure communication security. Connect with a Quadient solution expert to learn more, request a quote, or see a live interactive demo.
