The Future of Mailing

- Connectivity Made Easy

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 over 70,000 pieces of mailing equipment for the

largest US and Canadian 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 18 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’ll Cover:

• What’s all the fuss about?

• Benefits of networked meters

• Challenges getting meters connected

• Resources where you can go for help

March 22, 2017 3

The Evolution of Getting Funds On Your

Postage Meter

Go to Post Office to Add Funds

Download Funds Using Analog Phone

Line

Meter Connected to the Network

March 22, 2017 4

What’s all the fuss about?

• Phone companies are planning on stopping analog line

service.

• Postage Meter providers are requiring that future meters

get connected to the network to fill and update rates.

• Most postage meters are connected to analog phone

lines that cost $300-600 per year to maintain.

– Many analog lines are only used to refill meters every 1-3

months as well as annual rate increases.

– Analog line charges can cost more than small level meters.

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Benefits of Network Enabled Mailing Systems

• Time Savings/Increased Speed and Reliability

– With the use of a digital connection, postage refills, rate changes, and other

software updates will be updated much faster than through an analog line without

the interruption of a fax or incoming analog call interrupting.

• Automatic rate updates

– Network enabled devices may be able to push the correct rates to your system

vs. needing to wait for the next time you refill your meter. This would have been

especially important with this last rate change where the pricing went down.

• Web accounting

– One of the biggest developments with mailing systems is being able to enter

department accounting information on the meter and access on the web through

the vendor’s website. You used to need expensive accounting systems or have

printers connected that required retyping information into your business system.

Now you can access this data from the web and then export it into Excel to be

used internally.

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Benefits of Network Enabled Mailing Systems

• Mailing Vendor Cost Savings

– Extra fees ranging from $100-400 per meter. Meters no longer have analog modems

included and they are an additional fee.

• Analog Line Savings

– Many organizations are keeping analog lines for their postage meter and fax machine

without other uses. In other words, their main phone system is digital and run through

their network. As fax machines are replaced by digital multi-functional devices, the mail

machine may be the only thing used on the $300-600 per year analog line.

• Mail class detail

– You can now see the details of the mail classes used at each meter. You can use this

information to find savings strategies for the future. For example:

1. Certified Mail with Return Receipt – By switching to electronic versions saves $1.35.

2. First-Class Mail® - If the volumes exist, could you use a presort service or barcode

your mailings internally to reduce costs?

3. Priority and Express Mail® - By moving from Retail to Commercial can save up to 55%.

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Benefits of Network Enabled Mailing Systems

• Increased tracking capabilities

through USPS

• Package level detail for all

shipments.

– If you can provide the 4X6 shipping label with

the destination address and barcode, you are

able to get Commercial Base vs. the Retail

rates offered in postage meters and at the Post

Office counter. The meter vendors have

developed network enabled software that can

generate these rates and labels.

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Retail Commercial Base

Weight LB's January 22, 2017 January 22, 2017

% Savings

over

Retail

1 $6.65-10.50 $5.95-9.89 6-13%

5 $9.85-30.25 $7.17-28.72 5-27%

10 $12.65-52.10 $9.09-50.17 4-28%

25 $22.55-99.10 $18.11-90.77 8-25%

50 $32.55-156.95 $26.74-143.71 8-19%

Flat Rate Envelopes $6.65 $5.95 11%

Small Flat Rate Box $7.15 $6.45 10%

Medium Flat Rate Boxes $13.60 $12.40 9%

Large Flat Rate Boxes $18.85 $17.05 10%

Retail Commercial Base

Weight LB's January 22, 2017 January 22, 2017

% Savings

over

Retail

1 $23.75-46.20 $21.18-41.19 11%

5 $24.95-74.45 $22.14-64.76 11-13%

10 $37.60-109.80 $33.35-95.48 11-13%

25 $67.25-183.85 $59.95-163.85 11%

50 $119.20-340 $106.22-303.02 11%

Flat Rate Envelopes $23.75 $21.18 11%

USPS Priority Mail®

USPS Priority Mail® Express

This shipping feature is called the following:

- FP – Ship.it MailOne™ 2.0

- Hasler – Commercial Rates App

- Neopost – NeoShip

- Pitney Bowes - SendPro™

Challenges Getting Meters Connected

• It sounds complicated

• No network connection near the machine

• Firewall/Network Security Issues

• What if you have multiple locations

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Is there a network connection near the meter?

Here are the most common solutions:

• Yes there is a network connection close by.

• Getting a longer cord. (Sorry if this is obvious)

• If there are no open ports, consider a splitter.

• Can you plug into the back of an IP Phone, or Multi-functional

Device (Copier, printer).

• Can you get a Wi-Fi connector from your meter provider. (Extra

Charge)

• Can IT add a network drop close to the unit.

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Common Networking Issues

• Have not received approval to connect the meter to the

network by the IT Dept

• Network port/data line is not set up

• Network administrator has not opened the port/data line

to communicate on the network

• Missing information to connect – For example: IP

Address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway

Common technical definitions available on our FAQ page on

www.postaladvocate.com

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Steps to Connect

• Follow the steps listed in your mailing equipment

operator’s/installation guide.

• Plug meter into network.

• Test to see if you get a connection.

• If still no connection:

– Reach out to your IT/Network department for support.

– Call your mailing vendor for support if still not connected.

• For new installations and equipment renewals:

– Smaller units are typically self installable – Follow steps above.

– Larger units are installed by the vendors who can offer support.

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Multi-Location Challenges

For clients who have meters scattered through their locations this

can be a challenge. These are our recommendations:

• Create an inventory of all equipment and which locations are

already connected (Many high volume units may already be on

the network).

• Work with IT to make sure that the meters are approved to be

on the network.

• Look at the expiration dates of your equipment, focusing on

the locations coming up within the next 12 months and

owned/rented equipment.

• Update the locations that have service issues and may not

be getting support. (Meter vendors may not support connection

issues from analog phone lines)

• Update remaining locations as time allows or as they renew.

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Options if you cannot get meters onto your network

• Mailing Vendor Provided 3/4G Connections – Separate data plan

charged per meter.

• Mobile Phone Connection – Some meter manufacturers have a way to

connect your meter to a mobile phone and use its data plan to refill and do

rate updates.

• Wi-Fi Connection to your visitor open access hotspot – Some

companies have open Wi-Fi available for visitors when onsite. This may

have less security restrictions.

• PC Postage – For low to mid volume mailers (or high volume shippers) this

may be a great option. Solutions offered can be accessed through the

cloud and start at $16 per month.

March 22, 2017 14

Resources where you can go for help

• We help our clients get their mailing fleet connected to the

network

• Our website – FAQs – Connecting your postage meter

– Provides a quick guide with step-by-step instructions to simplify the

process

Link:

• Reach out to your vendor (Each have good documentation)

– Links:

March 22, 2017 15

FP Francotyp Postalia

Neopost/Hasler

Pitney Bowes

Postal Advocate Inc.

Helping multi-locationorganizations streamline

their mailing costs

70,000 pieces ofequipment, managed

by Postal Advocate

Recovered over$4,700,000

in lost postage, vendorovercharges and fees

ENTERPRISE-WIDE MAIL AUDIT AND RECOVERY

OVER $27,000,000 IN CLIENT SAVINGS

$697K

60%

Average Client

Savings

Average Equipment

Savings

HOW WE DO IT• 200+ 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

Upcoming Webinars

• Wed May 17, 2017at 11AM EST – The Main Event – PC Postage vs

Postage Meters

• Wed June 14, 2017 at 11AM EST - Top 10 Common Mail Mistakes -

How it could affect your bottom line.

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Check out www.postaladvocate.com

to register

Contact info: (20pt)

March 22, 2017 19

Questions?

Contact: Adam Lewenberg - President

888-977-MAIL X 501

adam.lewenberg@postaladvocate.com

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