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And none will hear the postman’s knock

Tuesday, October 19th, 2010

‘Is there any mail?’ or ‘Was there any mail today?’ is invariably one of the first questions we ask of each other when returning home. On the odd occasion that the reply is in negative I admit that I feel a tinge of resentment. Even a piece of ‘Junk Mail’ is better than nothing.

And none will hear the postman’s knock

Without a quickening of the heart.

For who can bear to feel himself forgotten? W.H. Auden

It’s a curious contradiction that so many people publicly condemn Direct Mail more often referred to as ‘Junk Mail’ and yet as sales medium it is so successful.

On questioning friends and colleagues and even a straw poll in the pub, it seems to me that there are few of us who have not at one time or another bought something in response to a piece of direct mail, I know I have.

Invariably these days on receipt of something that captures my attention I will immediately go on line to check it out and if satisfied with the price make the purchase. The Direct Mail Piece has achieved its purpose, the sale has been made.

Did you know?……

In the retail sector more than £102 billion in sales are attributed to direct marketing
Fewer people trash unsolicited direct mail when compared to email, 31% to 53% respectively
73% of respondents said they prefer receiving new product announcements by mail, versus 18% for email
Direct Mail – UK companies spend £43.3 billion on direct marketing activities every year
Nearly £17 billion is earned by workers employed within the Direct Mail industry
More than 1.1 million UK workers are employed by or are indirectly connected with the direct marketing industry.

At Veridata the cost of our returned and undelivered data capture service includes the secure destruction and recycling of all waste paper generated.

This helps our customers to cut their carbon footprint, mitigates the opportunity for fraud, protects brand image, increases their campaign performance and helps them comply with BSI Standard PAS2020.

It also saves them a shed load of money……

One of the loudest objections voiced against Direct Mail is the amount of waste paper it produces and therefore the perceived damage to the environment. This a concern to the industry and individual brands but cynically I believe only in so much as it affects their brand image. Despite the economic times, consumers and the media are still being tough on brands/government departments that do business while ignoring the environmental impact.

It is a legitimate concern even if the total amount of waste generated is a relatively small percentage because 80% of the carbon footprint for a piece of mail is in this ‘end of life’ solution. Mail/catalogues at one time they were just dumped into landfill. However EU Directives have put a total embargo by 2015 of this waste going into landfill. This has focussed the minds of business as there is a corporate social and environmental responsibility for the ‘end of life’ solution of any large mailings all waste paper generated is now disposed of properly. Or so we are lead to believe.

Posted in 'Gone away' mail, 'gone aways', Carbon Footprint, Catalogues, DMA, Direct Mail, Environmental responsibility, Identity Fraud, PAS2020, Postal returns, Returned and Undelivered Mail | No Comments »

David Miliband MP, has said that 550 000 tonnes of ‘junk mail’ sent each year is “unacceptable for the environment,”

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

The annual value of direct mail expenditure to the UK economy is £8.6bn and the value of sales generated is £17bn1. Each household receives just over three pieces of direct mail every week; 67% of that mail is opened.

However David Miliband MP, has said that 550 000 tonnes of ‘junk mail’ sent each year is “unacceptable for the environment,” and with the EU land-fill directives coming in to force the need to responsibly process any undelivered mail is now more pressing.

It has long been recognized that the carbon footprint of a Direct Mail piece indicates that 80% of CO2* exposure is at the ‘end-of-life’ stage. Responsible Direct Mailers can help to reduce this by having their returns processed by Veridata. Recycling paper waste has a lower environmental impact than either land-filling or incineration.

Veridata was set up in 1996 to handle and process the returned direct mail of one of the largest credit card issuers in the Europe. We currently provide this service to a variety of mailing companies and the recycle all the waste thus reducing carbon footprint.

* Figures are 1.65 tonnes CO2 per tonne of 100% recycled paper and 2.1 tonnes for virgin paper. These figures include emissions from manufacture, distribution, print process and disposal.

When it comes to having an impact on making a contribution to reduce global warming…………. ‘If you think that you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a room with a mosquito.’

Posted in 'Gone away' mail, 'Green Tax', 'gone aways', Carbon Footprint, Carbon Reduction Commitment scheme, Catalogues, DMA, Direct Mail, PAS2020, Postal returns, Recycling paper, Returned and Undelivered Mail, Royal Mail | No Comments »

TNT Post Introduces Admail For Promotional Direct Mail

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

TNT Post Introduces Admail For Promotional Direct Mail
20 August 2010 – Isobel Spaven-Donn

TNT Post has launched a new service, adMail, to help increase the return on investment for marketers of promotional direct mail. The bespoke product is a reduced cost service that has been specifically designed for promotional direct mail which drives sales or encourages support for a cause.

In addition to increasing a mailing’s return on investment, adMail also aims to promote best practice in data management; customers using the adMail service will commit to diligent data processes through suppression of customer and prospect data against consumer and business data files, such as the Mail Preference Service

For assistance with data cleansing, businesses can utilise TNT Post’s dataMatters service – a suite of data products designed to help organisations improve the accuracy of data used for direct mailings, in order to achieve optimum marketing efficiency, return on investment and audience impact. When married with TNT Post’s greenPost service, which looks at responsible, recyclable resourcing, clients can also reduce the environmental impact of the mailing.

adMail is available for delivery in a five working day delivery window and is for customers sending upwards of 4000 items a day, or at least 10,000 items a day for Access 700 CBC customers.

Nick Wells, chief executive of TNT Post UK, comments: “adMail offers the direct mail sector a new, cost-effective and efficient service that meets the needs of marketers in the current economic climate. By introducing a reduced cost service for promotional direct mailings, we aim to provide real value to customer.”

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Carbon footprint – if you are sending out large amounts of mail/catalogues in the UK/Europe - You should be aware that 80% of carbon footprint of mail is in the returned piece. Solution? VERIDATA

Posted in 'Gone away' mail, 'Green Tax', Carbon Footprint, Carbon Reduction Commitment scheme, Catalogues, DMA, Direct Mail, Environmental responsibility, PAS2020, Returned and Undelivered Mail, Sustainable Mail | No Comments »

The UK’s direct marketing industry generates £205 billion in sales annually in the UK, according to the findings of new research published by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA).

Friday, August 13th, 2010

The DMA’s inaugural Value of DM Report, which provides a detailed picture of the total financial contribution the direct marketing industry makes to UK commerce, cites the retail sector as the biggest beneficiary of direct marketing. More than £102 billion in sales are attributed to direct marketing – 36 per cent of the £285 billion in retail sales recorded by the British Retail Consortium in 2009. Direct marketing is also responsible for nearly £76 billion in revenue for the consumer financial services sector.

The Value of DM Report also addresses the economic worth of the direct marketing industry aside from the sales it generates. UK companies spend £43.3 billion on direct marketing activities every year; nearly £17 billion is earned by workers employed within the industry; and companies spend an additional £12.5 billion on employee overheads. More than 1.1 million UK workers are employed by or are indirectly connected with the direct marketing industry.

Commenting on the findings of the Value of DM Report Chris Combemale, executive director of the DMA, said:

“At a time of tremendous economic turmoil, the Value of DM Report shows that direct marketing has been a consistently solid sales generator for businesses throughout all sectors. As well as the financial contribution direct marketing makes to UK PLC, the report also shows the value it adds to peoples’ lives through employment and empowering them as consumers.”

Elsewhere in the Value of DM Report, the findings reveal the spread of expenditure on the spectrum of direct marketing channels. Over 30 per cent of direct marketing budgets are now allocated to online and email, with catalogues and direct mail accounting for 28 per cent and 26 per cent respectively.

The Value of DM Report can be downloaded from www.dma.org.uk/research

Stay ahead of carbon Reduction Commitment Scheme’/'green tax’ we recycle all waste paper lowering carbon footprint

Posted in 'Gone away' mail, 'Green Tax', Banking, Carbon Reduction Commitment scheme, Catalogues, DMA, Direct Mail, PAS2020, Postal returns, Recycling paper, Returned and Undelivered Mail | No Comments »

Anthony Trollope and Post Boxes

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Another thing I never knew, that Anthony Trollope the novelist, worked for the Post Office for 33 years and that was he who masterminded the introduction of the pillar box in 1852.

We take for granted the familiar like letter boxes which in the decades following the introduction of the penny post in 1839 were viewed with suspicion, before they became accepted the postman knocked. Did he knock twice and did he ever play Postman’s Knock on his round?

Today there is an average of 75 million letters delivered every day in 1839 there were 76 million delivered in the first year but it soon rose to 350 million a year, that’s a weeks worth now.

I am only guessing but I bet up until the Second World War that they did not have a major issue with returned and undelivered mail? I know they do now and for my own part I hope they continue to do so for it is our raison d’etre for being in business.

I must look up the facts and figures and what impact the introduction of postcodes had on deliveries.

Posted in 'Gone away' mail, Catalogues, Direct Mail, Postal returns, Returned and Undelivered Mail, Royal Mail | No Comments »

Cornwall the sea and making money

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Been a bit slack on updating our blog of late. There are reasons:

We had four days in St Agnes Cornwall staying with Kirsty’s (my wife) sister and what a week for weather. We love Cornwall, we have been going there four or five times a year for 20 years and we particularly love the north coast winter or summer the walking and beaches are spectacular and if you like surfing the place to be. I find the rhythm of the sea spiritually healing and we although it was only a short break it’s good to switch off. http://www.porthvean.com/
We are undergoing a strategic review of our business and the need to up the security to meet the scrutiny of compliance departments of major financial institutions.
Last year was terrible for so many SMEs financial services mailings dropped by 80% and then we had the mail strikes.
Keeping pace with the shear volume of information and social media is onerous but it’s here and it’s a part of the future embrace it or die. Check out check out http://www.slideshare.net/mzkagan/what-the-fk-is-social-media-one-year-later. the numbers confound.
Reviewing our web site we are always looking to improve ways of engaging with customers present and new your feedback is important. As a service company we want to give you the best service we can and we are here to tailor our service to meet your needs. Direct Mail will be around for a few years yet and we can:
- make yours more efficient
- targeted
- save you money, (we know we can)
- help enhance your brand image
- mitigate opportunities for identity fraud
- and cut your carbon footprint

You I am sure would like to make more money/cut costs we are in business to make a profit we can both benefit from talking.

PS Ask us about the huge savings and efficiencies to be made from using CodEffect 2d Bar Code

Posted in 'Gone away' mail, 'gone aways', Banking, Carbon Footprint, Catalogues, CodEffect 2d bar code, DMA, Direct Mail, Environmental responsibility, Hotels where to stay put up your customers, Identity Fraud, PAS2020, Postal returns, Recycling paper, Returned and Undelivered Mail, Royal Mail, SMEs | No Comments »

Millions wasted on inaccurate mailings

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

Did you know that on average business data decays at 27% annually and that businesses waste £220 million each year on inaccurate mailings?

By using our Returned and Undelivered mail (and catalogues) service you can can help cut that cost, save your company money, protect your brand and send out positive green mess age to all your customers.

I hate waste and I see it all the time, piles of ‘junk’ direct mail, duplicate letters to myself and then again to my wife it’s poorly badly targetted mail.

I have nothing against Direct Mail I have been prompted to buy goods from Direct Mail but there is an iniquitous amount of waste through sloppy targeting and duplication and it does piss people off.

It’s not rocket science and we have been doing it for fourteen years so we know our service can reduce this waste and we can prove how we do it (and by using CodEffect we can reduce that even further), and we recycle all the waste paper.

Few businesses monitor the amount of mail they send out, or the cost of returned mail or the potential damage to their company or brand and for every piece of poorly targeted business mail returned to sender, a staggering 20 are thrown away.

People throw away 59 percent of the mail they receive for previous employees.

Direct Mail Landfill costs £40 a ton.

Facts like these are are everywhere but when I read,

‘We’re the last billionth of a second in the evolution of matter’. DeLillio

I think I really should get a life.

Posted in 'Gone away' mail, 'gone aways', Carbon Footprint, Catalogues, CodEffect 2d bar code, DMA, Direct Mail, Environmental responsibility, Identity Fraud, PAS2020, Recycling paper, Returned and Undelivered Mail, Royal Mail, Sustainable Mail | No Comments »

Sustainable Mail and DMA beats targets for recycling

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Veridata has been doing its bit to help the Direct Marketing Industry meet the targets for recycling, and indeed anyone who sends out large amounts of mail or catalogues. Once we have captured the relevant information for our customers from the mail we process all the paper residue is destroyed and recycled. This helps to lower the carbon footprint of the sender as 80% of the carbon footprint of a piece of direct mail is in the ‘end of life’ solution. Our service helps to meet the requirements for Sustainable Mail and PAS2020. Perhaps as important it also saves a lot of money, protects brand image and goes some ways to mitigating the opportunity for identity fraud.

Sending out large mail? Meet you Corporate Social Responsibility by processing your returns responsibly call Veridata today and make your mail more effective.

Royal Mail launched two new sustainable services in 2009, with usage levels already running at over 380m items a year Source: Royal Mail (2010)

With ‘Sustainable Mail’ (available via RM Retail) and ‘Responsible Mail (available via RM Wholesale) mailers achieve better prices for producing direct mailings that are better targeted, produced in a sustainable way and easy to recycle. These services are fully aligned to PAS 2020

384m items of Direct Mail were sent via these services in the 12 months up to January 2010, equating to over 10% of all Direct Mail.

Royal Mail has been further driving up improvements in mail quality via the new Royal Mail Mailing House scheme. This scheme, which disbursed over £5m in the last 12 months, gives rewards to Mailing Houses which can provide evidence of environmental management systems (ISO14001, etc.)

Matthew Neilson, Head of Environmental Solutions, Royal Mail, commented: “The direct marketing industry has made a significant effort to reduce its impact on the environment, and the introduction of initiatives such as the DMA’s PAS2020 and Royal Mail’s Sustainable® Mail product have been instrumental in helping the sector to achieve this recycling goal. However, there is much more that can be done to ensure direct marketers are communicating in as sustainable a fashion as possible.”

Posted in 'Gone away' mail, 'gone aways', Carbon Footprint, Catalogues, DMA, Direct Mail, Environmental responsibility, PAS2020, Postal returns, Recycling paper, Returned and Undelivered Mail, Royal Mail, Sustainable Mail | No Comments »

Specialists in processing returned & undelivered mail from as little as 0.4p per item

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

……Because ‘ gone way’ mail matters

Specialist, automated and quick turn around service for the data capture of Returned and Gone Away Mail.

We capture the data you need from the format you use…

* Alpha numeric
* Alpha
* Barcode (including CodEffect 2d)

Our solution helps your company comply with the new BSI Standard PAS2020 and qualify for Royal Mail’s Sustainable Mail reduced postal rates. It also addresses EU directives on landfill and the issue of ‘producer responsibility’ in that all waste paper generated is disposed of responsibly.

As part of our service we ensure that all waste paper is securely destroyed and recycled.

Cuts Carbon footprint meets corporate social responsibility

Mitigates opportunity for identity theft, cuts out delivering mail to wrong address recipient

Protects brand image

Saves you shed loads of money!!

Posted in 'Gone away' mail, 'gone aways', Carbon Footprint, Catalogues, CodEffect 2d bar code, DMA, Direct Mail, Environmental responsibility, PAS2020, Postal returns, Recycling paper, Returned and Undelivered Mail | No Comments »

Direct Mail and Traying Up

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

Is the process of ‘traying up’ as efficient as you would want it to be? Is your system automated, pre-trayed and pre-sorted? By a slight extension to the use of CodEffect 2dbar code, used by us to process returned and undelivered mail, you can create automated traying. This can considerably improve efficiencies in the presentation of your mail to your carrier (s) and save you money

The efficiencies and reduced costs gained by CodEffect in the processing of returned and undelivered mail is a ‘no brainer’ and could save you a considerable amount of money.

The responsible handling of all yours, or your customers returned mail is good for your brand image, and good for the environment, it ticks all the ‘green’ boxes and cuts carbon footprint.

Our service also helps you to comply with PAS2020, Royal Mail’s Sustainable Mail, and the EU Directives on Landfill that all waste paper is disposed of correctly, no more land fill allowed for this kind of material.

As an inclusive part of our service we recycle all waste paper.

Posted in 'Gone away' mail, Carbon Footprint, Catalogues, CodEffect 2d bar code, DMA, Direct Mail, Environmental responsibility, PAS2020, Postal returns, Recycling paper, Sustainable Mail | No Comments »