General

Most likely, no.  Postage fees depend on many factors; primarily size and weight.  If the size or weight change, the rates will change.

Be very careful to make sure that all information submitted to us for a specific job is accurate.  If the paperwork doesn't match the cargo you schlep to the Post Office, they will not accept your mailing, or -- even worse -- you could end up paying too much.

If you are placing .44 cent stamps on your mail pieces, then yes!  Depending on the saturation level (how many pieces target an area) your postage will drop considerably... in some cases by as much as half or more!

The U.S. Postal Service is the copyright holder for the postal forms that will be provided and used in our business.  mailing list information remains the property of the copyright holder.  In other words, if your list is your own intellectual property, we will protect that intellectual property and safeguard it from any unauthorized copies.

Your data is safe with us.

This all depends on your familiarity with computers and computer programs.  If you are an ace at computers and you regularly perform mail merge types of jobs then you will feel extremely comfortable using the mail merge approach to printing your labels.  Not to mention it is even less expensive than other methods.

If you are hesitant or leery whenever you hear the term "mail merge", then labels are the way for you.  We can either generate your labels and express them to you, or we can produce a PDF of your labels and you can print them at your leisure.  Either way you are certain to have the lowest postage possible for your mailing.

Customers please note:  Not all labels are suitable for mailing address printing.  Please let us know beforehand if you are trying to use a non-standard label size.

As a non-profit entity, you are able to purchase a non-profit bulk mail permit from the USPS.  These are acquired through your local post office and run about $150.00 per year.  This permit allows you and your organization to claim deeper mailing discounts based on your status as a non-profit entity.  As a profit organization, you are able to purchase permits from the USPS as well.  For profit mailings you will need to obtain a permit for standard or First Class depending on the type of mail you will be dealing with.

Yes!  Much of the work the U.S. Postal Service does for us is sorting.  In fact, they are the gold standard by which some other folks measure their sorting operations.  They sort over a billion pieces of mail each and every day, and their success rate is phenomenal. And your normal postage rate pays for that work.

Presorting has been around for a long time.  When you presort all the mail and arrange it in bins and containers, the Post Office doesn't have to do it, so they can charge you only for the delivery part of the service. That is normally much less.

As an example, look just below this article for a link that says "Read more...", and click it to see what happens.

Although we can accept your mailing list in hundreds of different electronic forms, there are obviously some that are more helpful for automated list processing than others.  While there is normally no charge associated with conversion of some arcane legacy format you may be stuck with, there are ways to make your processing job even easier with a few simple steps.

As discussed in other articles, we encourage our customers to submit their mailing lists in either Excel (XLS) or CSV format.  Unfortunately, Excel has size limitations and is not sufficient for lists of more than 65,536 records.  Some of our customers may find that they encounter difficulty trying to put their whole list into Excel.

From time to time, you may have a need to change the login credentials of your company's account with the Presort Direct web site.

To change your password, locale, or company information

Make sure you are logged in, then look at the menu panel on the left.  Find the section marked "User Menu", and click on "Your Details".  You will be taken to the page for changing your password.

To change your username

If you have staff changes, you may need to change your username to maintain information security.  If this happens, contact us immediately and we will change it for you.  The username and Company Profile Name are not normally editable by users.

As far as we are concerned, your mailing list belongs to you.  We don't want it, we don't need it, and we aren't in business to compete with you.  The business were are in is to help make your mailing cheaper, faster and easier.

We know we can't keep customers if we make them angry.  We'd much rather have you as a happy customer than as an unhappy enemy.

Your data is safe with us, kept secure behind password protections and behind locked doors.  The only time that information will be revealed to a third party is if it is ordered by a law enforcement agency.

No.  If you don't see your business, organization or denomination type mentioned here, it was not meant as a slight.  We at Presort Direct strongly support local and national faith-based activities as a way to build strong, cohesive communities.  We see all business, professional organizations and denominations as unifying influences, rather than divisive ones.  So we are proud to offer our support and services to all businesses, denominations, faiths and creeds -- whether long established, or newly founded.

Okay, so you have used Presort Direct's sterling service to prepare a mailing list that is without peer -- ready to rock the marketing world. You have downloaded your finished files from the site.

Now what?

When we say “format”, we are usually talking about the program you used to save your electronic list.  For example, if you stored your file using MS Excel, your file would most likely be saved in Excel format.

Plain text files, tab-delimited or “CSV” delimited, containing the following columns, are easiest for us to deal with:

1. name
2. address
3. city
4. state
5. zip

Please note that files that are not in that format can still be used; but they may require additional processing, and take a few minutes longer.  In most cases, there is no additional charge for this conversion.

“Format” is not the same as “layout”, which we use to talk about what order and arrangement your list information is arrayed, within that file format.

Most folks have no idea what is involved with a direct mailing project.  The sorting, stacking, keeping track, banding, transportation, choosing a Post Office... it can be daunting.

Although direct mailing is not our core business, our professionals have decades of combined experience in just that arena, and are available to help with your questions on things to watch out for.

The package of information that is prepared by our service also includes instructions on what is expected of you.

When you submit a job for us to process for you, we provide the forms as part of the package of information provided back to you.  If you print out the file we send, you will have all forms and paperwork required to mail your materials -- provided all information you gave us beforehand is correct.

There is also additional information in the package that explains what some of the terms mean.  Presort Direct aims to be a very helpful and user-friendly experience for you, so you'll come back again and again.

Although we can all get spoiled and depend quite a lot on email for our businesses, email really isn't 100% reliable.  Indeed, we all have lost a connection to the Internet altogether, at one time or another.

That is why we archive both inbound and outbound information for some time after the transaction is completed.  If the transfer fails, or a download stops in the middle, you will still be able to get your data from our site.

You have heard us say that Presort Direct produces CASS-Certified™ information, but what does it really mean?

It's different for every job. Our tried-and-true systems, PAVE© and CASS© certified, will provide you with all United States Postal Service discounts to which you are entitled.  This means that you are assured of the lowest postage possible based on the parameters of your mailing.  In addition to our very low fee, you will only need to write a check to the USPS for the amount on your paperwork.  It couldn't be simpler!  Your postage amount will depend on several factors, however, you will be realizing all postal discounts entitled to you as a USPS permit holder.  Congratulations on making a wise choice!

We at Presort Direct find that Avery label number 5161 is a good fit for most letters and flats.  It fits 2 columns of 20 on a Letter size page, in a regular inkjet printer. They don't cost too much to buy in bulk, and they give your mailing that extra little look of professionalism.

Do you have to use avery labels?  Of course not.  If you have another brand -- or size -- of label, you are free to make use of the ones you like.  Just remember that there are limits to what the post office will accept, so reign in that urge to go with big purple flowers or teddy bears.  Also, be aware that your mail merge and print settings will be different.

You will not need to spend a ton on a printer.  You can use an ink-jet style, or even dot matrix style, printer with outstanding results, providing you remember:

1. Use labels and paper that don't smear (not shiny)
2. Keep your print head clean and free-flowing
3. Use a sheet feeder for labels, for best results.

Because our customers are likely to be all over the map when it comes to their desired payment options, we made a strategic decision to align ourselves with PayPal.  The advantages are clear, but here are some of the reasons:

• You do not have to have a PayPal account to pay online with PayPal (but it makes things easier).
• We can accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, or electronic transfer from your bank account.
• PayPal has a long history of secure financial transactions on the web.  They wrote the book on online security, before most others even realized there was a need.
• We do not ever store your credit card information anywhere on our machines.  We don't even see it!  Check out with confidence, without exposing your financial details.
• 100% protection against any unauthorized payments sent from your account.
• You receive email confirmation and notification of every transaction, for your records.

If your mailing list is in one of our standard formats, or a commonly known format, and if your account information is complete (permit numbers, addresses, etc.), your prepared and sorted information will be available for you to download in a matter of mere minutes -- usually less than 5.

If your mailing list requires conversion, you will be notified very quickly by email what the status is of any issues.  It is rare for any conversion to take more than half an hour, because of the high technology of our powerful parsing engines.

If your account information is missing some critical piece of information -- like a permit number -- your mailing list will not be processed until that missing info is provided.  After all, there's no sense in setting up a bunch of blank paperwork that the Post Office will just reject when you get there!

If you absolutely insist on doing all this work by hand with paper, you may be missing out on an opportunity to save hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars in fees and postage.

Where the true speed and efficiency comes in is with presorted mass mailings.  You can literally save as much as half of your shipping cost if you automate things the way the Post Office likes it.

By the way, the Post Office itself is moving to a much more automated, streamlined and electronic way of life.  You don't want to be left behind.