Bulk Mail Delivery Info from Ashley

Ashley Beck is guest blogging today. She's the Diva on our team responsible for chasing down ALL the mail and letting you know when to expect it in homes. Here are just some tips and things she's learned over the past couple of months.
Be in the know, email us to recieve your very own 2010 Postal Holiday Calendar so you're able to plan your mailers around these days.
As the Diva in charge of Mailplus, I could write volumes on what I have learned about mail delivery. Mailplus is a very important system that we have put in place here at Tri-Auto to make sure that your mail is where it should be throughout the delivery process and getting in homes on time for your sale. To give you a better understanding, here is my basic process: First, on the day that the mail is scheduled to reach the SCF, which I have learned to call “the plant,” I have a tracking number that I enter to see when the shipment has been delivered. I then call that central mail hub, ask for the manager on duty, describe to them the mail piece and how it was shipped, and have them confirm for me that our shipment did actually arrive. Two days later, I call the DDUs (or local post offices), which I now refer to as “the delivery units” to make sure that they are receiving the mail from the plant and getting it out in a timely fashion. From new post office lingo to my buddy Pete at the Fox Chase post office, the things I have learned over this last month will help me most in the future when tracking clients’ direct mail investment if dealers can help me by: · Condensing rather than feathering. The more mail pieces I have to call on in each zip code, the better. If there are 3,000 pieces vs. 300 pieces, the carriers are more likely to see them, and more importantly remember seeing it and carrying them out to homes. · Don’t push the timeline. I do everything I can to make sure that mail gets in homes 2 days after it was delivered to the central hub, but please understand that if the plant doesn’t receive the shipment until Tuesday the chances are most the mail won’t be in homes until Thursday. · Previous late mail? Let us know!! Tell Steph when you’re picking sale dates or Katy while you’re picking the mailing list. They will give me the heads-up so we can be even more proactive helping your mail through the system.