Presenting strategies you can use in your organization to dramatically reduce mailing equipment costs, eliminate fees, recover lost postage and create visibility across the enterprise.
2. 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.
September 20, 2017 2
3. What We’re Covering
1. Challenges – The challenges organizations with large mailing fleets face
2. 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 Strategy
7. 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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4. 4
Challenges of Managing Fleet Mailing Assets
Areas 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
Unclear
invoices
Connecting
Devices to
the Network
5. Challenges With Mailing Equipment Purchasing
1. Huge price variances for similar models at different locations across
your fleet
September 20, 2017 5
Example:
Model Pricing Variance
Model Quantity Low High Average
High/Low
Ratio Total Expense
Total if all
at Low Rate
Model A 9 $348 $701 $459 2.0 $4,133 $3,132
Model B 36 $345 $1,573 $801 4.6 $28,839 $12,420
Model C 26 $427 $2,063 $1,296 4.8 $33,703 $11,102
Model D 13 $1,427 $2,760 $2,019 1.9 $26,250 $18,551
Model E 26 $1,524 $4,467 $2,666 2.9 $69,325 $39,624
Model F 5 $3,251 $6,276 $5,352 1.9 $26,764 $16,255
Model G 5 $7,848 $9,931 $8,931 1.3 $44,655 $39,240
Total 120 $233,669 $140,324
Potential Savings $93,345
6. September 20, 2017 6
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 Sites
Equipment
Spend
Postage
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.
7. September 20, 2017 7
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 Dates
Lease 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.
8. Equipment Savings Process
September 20, 2017 8
Optimized Mailing Fleet Asset Management
1. 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 overcharges
6. Maintain postage balances and claim lost funds.
7. Continual review to ensure savings.
This process leads to 30-70% savings!
9. 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.
September 20, 2017 9
10. 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.
September 20, 2017 10
Postage
Refill 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
Lease
Late 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 Stats
4266 Transactions - $5,473,438
Typical Vendor Overcharges
Invoices notgiving national accountdiscounts.
Meter, maintenanceand ratechangecharges when included on a lease.
Bills for equipmentfromclosed sites.
Resetand advancepostagefees thatshould beincluded.
Loyalty points thatgo undredeemed or cashed in for personal use.
11. 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.
September 20, 2017 11
12. 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?
September 20, 2017 12
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.
13. 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.
September 20, 2017 13
14. Enterprise Advocate – Multi Location System - Dashboard
September 20, 2017 14
The data above is for demonstrative purposes only. Data does not represent true spends and costs.
15. Enterprise Advocate – Multi Location System - Dashboard
September 20, 2017 15
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.
17. Validate Equipment Spends with Locations
We 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.
September 20, 2017 17
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.
18. Postal Advocate
Validation Process
September 20, 2017 18
1. Find suspect equipment and
charges.
2. Contact the location to validate
needs. (See below).
3. Implement changes and
cancellations.
19. 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?
September 20, 2017 19
20. Postal Advocate
Equipment Renewal Process
September 20, 2017 20
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.
1
2
3
4
5
Postal Advocate Equipment Savings Stats
Savings 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%
21. Customized Renewal
Email
September 20, 2017 21
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.
25. Helping multi-location
organizations streamline
their mailing costs
Over 85,000 pieces of
equipment, managed
by Postal Advocate
Recovered over
$7,994,875
in lost postage, vendor
overcharges and fees
ENTERPRISE-WIDEMAILAUDITANDRECOVERY
OVER $32,000,000 IN CLIENT SAVINGS
$893K
60%
Average Client
Savings
Average Equipment
Savings
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)
26. Sign Limited Agency
Agreement/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, billing
and vendor compliance.
Provide enterprise visibility of
all spend, costs and
documented savings
through enterpriseAdvocate.
Provide client log-in.
1 2
3
4 5 6
HOW IT
WORKS
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
27.
28. Free No Obligation Mailing Fleet Analysis
• Completed in 2-3 weeks
• Outlines, spend and specific savings opportunities
• Minimal client involvement
September 20, 2017 28
Savings Summary Locations Meter Rentals
Maintenance
Agreements
On Call
Maintenance Lease Total Postage Spend Ratio
0.00
Item Current 2015 2016 2017 Savings
Combined
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
29. Fleet Cost Savings Process
September 20, 2017 29
Summary
Optimized Mailing Fleet Asset Management
1. 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 overcharges
6. Maintain postage balances and claim lost funds.
7. Continual review to ensure savings.
This process leads to 30-70% savings!
30. Contact info: (20pt)
September 20, 2017 30
Questions?
Contact: Adam Lewenberg - President
888-977-MAIL X 501
adam.lewenberg@postaladvocate.com