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How Large Organizations Can Save on Mailing Fleet Costs
Adam Lewenberg - Background and Experience
• President of Postal Advocate Inc. – The only mail audit and recovery firm in the US and Canada– Manage a portfolio of 85,000 pieces of mailing equipment for the largest
US companies.– Speak and teach nationally on mail savings and industry trends.
• Industry Co Chair- Boston Postal Customer Council/Mail Systems Management Association member. CMDSS and MDC Certifications.
• Featured Writer for Mailing Systems Technology Magazine.• Worked for one of the largest mailing vendors for over 17 years
– Director of national sales for presort, tabletop inserters, addressing hardware/software and green offerings.
– Was one of the top 5 account managers nationally working with some of the nations top accounts.
• Not affiliated with any mailing vendor - Unbiased advice.
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What We’re Covering1. Challenges – The challenges organizations with large mailing fleets face2. Visibility and Analysis – How gaining a thorough understanding of this
complex category will save time, reduce costs and increase efficiency across your fleet
3. Equipment Savings Process – The process to reduce mailing equipment costs without compromising vendor quality or service
4. Eliminating Vendor Fees/Overcharges – Steps to finding mailing vendor fees and overcharges
5. Lost Postage Recovery – Tracking down lost postage for closed locations, mergers and dormant accounts
6. Developing an Equipment Purchasing Strategy7. How We Can Help - Best-in-Class Tools – Complete visibility to spend
using the most innovative tools, resources available along with on-going maintenance and support
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Challenges of Managing Fleet Mailing AssetsAreas for improvement
Multiple postage
accounts to fund and maintain
Difficult to assess needs
or requirements
No centralized oversight
No control of rogue spend
Resources or Time to Execute
No published pricing for
comparison
Poor Visibility
Inconsistent prices for
similar equipment
Unclearinvoices
Connecting Devices to
the Network
Challenges With Mailing Equipment Purchasing
1. Huge price variances for similar models at different locations across your fleet
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Example:Model Pricing Variance
Model Quantity Low High AverageHigh/Low
Ratio Total ExpenseTotal if all
at Low RateModel A 9 $348 $701 $459 2.0 $4,133 $3,132Model B 36 $345 $1,573 $801 4.6 $28,839 $12,420Model C 26 $427 $2,063 $1,296 4.8 $33,703 $11,102Model D 13 $1,427 $2,760 $2,019 1.9 $26,250 $18,551Model E 26 $1,524 $4,467 $2,666 2.9 $69,325 $39,624Model F 5 $3,251 $6,276 $5,352 1.9 $26,764 $16,255Model G 5 $7,848 $9,931 $8,931 1.3 $44,655 $39,240Total 120 $233,669 $140,324
Potential Savings $93,345
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2. Expired or non existent Master Service Agreement
3. Lack of visibility to postage spends and usage levels.Companies buying the wrong levels of equipment. In many cases spending more on equipment than postage/usage.
Spend Ratios
Postage Range # of SitesEquipment
SpendPostage Spend Spend Ratio
>$12,000 per year 2 $26,600 $63,500 0.42$1200-12,000 per year 64 $189,054 $155,441 1.22<$1,200 per year 76 $120,291 $41,890 2.87
Challenges With Mailing Equipment Purchasing
Main Cause – Reliance on mailing vendor to work with the locations to define requirements combined with declining mail volumes.
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Challenges With Mailing Equipment Purchasing
4. Vendor inventory reporting is infrequent, unavailable and confusing
5. Lease portfolios with varying end dates often going into evergreen statuses.
Lease Renewal DatesLease Expiration Year # of Sites Value
2013 or Before 19 $28,404
2014 9 $12,198
2015 34 $62,193
2016 26 $54,455
2017 19 $30,795
2018-20 22 $35,691
Total 129 $223,736
68% of your leases are coming up over the next
year.
Equipment Savings Process
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Optimized Mailing Fleet Asset Management1. Gain visibility to your equipment and spends.2. Validate questionable charges.3. Negotiate enterprise pricing and terms.4. Work with locations on equipment changes.5. Eliminate fees and overcharges6. Maintain postage balances and claim lost funds.7. Continual review to ensure savings.
This process leads to 30-70% savings!
Analysis and Visibility
• Get reports from your vendors that list:– Account Numbers (Install, Lease, Prepaid and Advance Postage)– Lease Information – Rate, Term, End of Lease, Items covered.– Meter rentals and maintenance agreements.– Model, serial number and description of every item.
• Go to accounts payable and pull spend reports from the main mail vendors and USPS.
• Enter your account numbers on the vendor websites.• Monitor your inventory, invoices and postage balances online
(Recommended to do this monthly).• Find all active locations with equipment.• Set up a schedule for continual review.
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Eliminating Vendor Fees/Overcharges• Pay bills on time.• Look at each invoice and validate all
chargeable items.• Cancel vendor equipment insurance.• Terminate chargeable loyalty programs.• Make sure postage refill and advance
charges are included or monitored.
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PostageRefil l Fees - Rentals $0-20 each
Postage Advance Fees Included or up to 1% of the Advance
Postage Advance Late Fees 0-15% of the Advance
Postage Advance Finance Charges 15% or higher APR
Overlimit Credit Charge Varies by Vendor
Annual Fee Rewards Program Varies by Vendor
LeaseLate Fees Varies by Vendor and Lease Value
Insurance - Leases Only
Varies by Vendor and Lease Value - Automatic enrollment unless proof
insurance is provided.
Mailing System Fees
We find companies paying tens of thousands in fees and overcharges that can be recovered or eliminated
for the future.Postal Advocate Avoidable Fees and
Overcharges Savings Stats4266 Transactions - $5,473,438
Typical Vendor OverchargesInvoices not giving national account discounts.Meter, maintenance and rate change charges when included on a lease.Bil ls for equipment from closed sites.Reset and advance postage fees that should be included.Loyalty points that go undredeemed or cashed in for personal use.
Lost Postage Recovery
• We have found over $2,460,000 in lost postage sitting in dormant postage accounts. Plus over 27,000 transactions turned over to the states. This happens because:– Offices close, merge or just turn in their meters.– The money is expensed once sent in for postage.– The advance account is used when funds sit idle in the prepaid.
• Steps to find money.– Find account numbers of your current and past meters.– Enter these account numbers online on the vendors website to see if
any data is available.– Contact your meter vendor to validate funds available.– Check the unclaimed funds databases to see if funds were turned in.
Postal Advocate can research these funds and help you get them returned.
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Developing an Equipment Purchasing Strategy
• Use national spend to negotiate better rates.
• Consider running a bid between the main mailing vendors. (Pitney Bowes, Neopost, FP, Stamps.com)
• Negotiate Master Service Agreement and Terms.
• Define the order process inside your organization.– Purchase vs. lease vs. rental?– How are the equipment needs defined?
– Where are approvals done?– How can the policies be enforced?
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How Postal Advocate Can Help
We can pull this spend together for the US and Canada.
We have bid templates ready that we have used to negotiated for the largest mailing fleets.
We can add and review terms to protect you for the future.
We can guide you through your options.
Postal Advocate will work with your locations to show options and help implement changes.
Postal Advocate will manage this process to ensure rules are being followed.
How Postal Advocate Can Help
• We can work with all vendor’s data and can build this visibility.
• We maintain this data in our enterpriseAdvocate System and provide you access.
• We update this data monthly.• We use this data to drive savings through your portfolio.
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Enterprise Advocate – Multi Location System - Dashboard
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The data above is for demonstrative purposes only. Data does not represent true spends and costs.
Enterprise Advocate – Multi Location System - Dashboard
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Highlights• Simple access to all mail spends.• Visibility to fees and savings.• All account numbers are stored in one place.• Simple to drill down to an individual location or invoice.
The data above is for demonstrative purposes only. Data does not represent true spends and costs.
Spend Ratio What are we
spending on the equipment
compared to the postage used.
Enterprise Advocate – Location View
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Validate Equipment Spends with LocationsWe typically find 5-15% of a mailing fleet is not needed and can be returned.• Bills often sent to accounts payable with limited review.• Locations not surveyed about the equipment at the site.• Little understanding of the equipment listed on bills and reports.• Vendors have little incentive to validate suspect equipment because of lost
revenue.• Equipment may be sitting in storage with charges accruing.
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Criteria for Search:• Meters not filled for over 6 months.• Expired leases.• Maintenance and meter rentals.• Equipment over 5 years old.• Folders, inserters, openers, shipping
and tracking systems.
Postal Advocate Validation Process
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1. Find suspect equipment and charges.
2. Contact the location to validate needs. (See below).
3. Implement changes and cancellations.
Renewal Process
• Who works with the locations to define the needs and provide options? (Vendor, staff)
• What review process is set up to make sure it is the right solution?• How do you protect against:
– Evergreen clauses– Remaining balances – Unauthorized lease extensions – Unneeded equipment or wrongly sized models– Locations not getting national account discounts
• Who follows up with each location to make sure new equipment is set up and the old equipment was removed?
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Postal AdvocateEquipment Renewal Process
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Step 1: Customized Renewal Email
Implement renewals, terminations and new equipment needs.
Analyze current pricing and terms.
Set Standardized equipment rates and updated MSA’s.
Document all new equipment, savings and notes.
Work with locations to define needs and show options.
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Postal Advocate Equipment Savings StatsSavings Type
# of Transactions Total Savings % of Savings
Equip Savings: New 358 804,045$ Equip Savings: Renewal 4113 26,403,748$ Equip Savings: Terminate 2375 1,928,986$
Total 6846 29,136,779$ 60%
Customized Renewal Email
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Detailed Location Information
Company Defined Purchasing Process.
Compare Current Equipment and Costs to new options.
Detailed description on all equipment.
Web, PDF and Video links for more information.
Step 2: Equipment Change Request Form
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Step 3: Equipment Ordered Validation with Instructions
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Step 4: Client Validates Completed Request
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Helping multi-locationorganizations streamline
their mailing costs
Over 85,000 pieces ofequipment, managed
by Postal Advocate
Recovered over$7,994,875
in lost postage, vendorovercharges and fees
ENTERPRISE-WIDE MAIL AUDIT AND RECOVERY
OVER $32,000,000 IN CLIENT SAVINGS
$893K60%
Average ClientSavings
Average EquipmentSavings
HOW WE DO IT• 240+ years of industry experience• Comprehensive web-based tool
providing visibility of all mail and equipment spend
• Time Savings - Assistance in fleet management
visit www.postaladvocate.com or call (888)977-MAIL(6245)
Sign Limited AgencyAgreement/Kick-Off Call.
Provide copies of vendor invoices, AP export,
location list, equipment inventory list.
Present savings opportunities and get client approval.
Postal Advocate provides ongoing support,
manages renewals, billingand vendor compliance.
Provide enterprise visibility of all spend, costs and
documented savings through enterpriseAdvocate.
Provide client log-in.
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HOW ITWORKS
Work with current vendor to build population report, contract terms/start/end dates,
postage volumes, costs.
Analyze spend, check for contract compliance, billing errors, vendor fees/overcharges, lost postage.
Identify savings opportunities.
Submit vendor credit requests, lost postage forms and
eliminate avoidable fees.
Negotiate pricing. Create catalog.
Work with locations -asset validation, rightsize, termination…
Full implementation of savings.
visit www.postaladvocate.com or call (888)977-MAIL(6245)
Conduct Analysis
NO COST – AUDIT PHASE CONTRACTED CLIENT
Free No Obligation Mailing Fleet Analysis
• Completed in 2-3 weeks• Outlines, spend and specific savings opportunities• Minimal client involvement
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Savings Summary Locations Meter RentalsMaintenance Agreements
On Call Maintenance Lease Total Postage Spend Ratio
0.00
Item Current 2015 2016 2017 SavingsCombined Savings
Equipment Costs
Avoidable Fees(Late Fees, Finance Charges, Equip Insurance, Loyalty Plans)
Contract Violations (Supply, maintenance, meter discounts, overcharges)
Lost Postage Funds (Meter Accounts)
Lost USPS Permit Funds
Total $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Fleet Cost Savings Process
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Summary
Optimized Mailing Fleet Asset Management1. Gain visibility to your equipment and spends.2. Validate questionable charges.3. Negotiate enterprise pricing and terms.4. Work with locations on equipment changes.5. Eliminate fees and overcharges6. Maintain postage balances and claim lost funds.7. Continual review to ensure savings.
This process leads to 30-70% savings!
Contact info: (20pt)
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Questions?
Contact: Adam Lewenberg - President888-977-MAIL X [email protected]