Postal returns « veridata

Archive for the ‘Postal returns’ Category

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 »

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 »

Direct Mail and Public Perception

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

Paper has been identified as a material where reduced waste and greater recycling can yield significant environmental benefits.

The Government has already concluded voluntary producer responsibility agreement to promote, in particular, increased recycling magazines and direct mail the Periodical Publishers Association (PPA) and the Direct Marketing Association (DMA).

Add in Newspapers and these three waste streams are estimated to amount to about 3.6 million tonnes (which would equate to about 14% of total household waste).

Direct marketing material estimated to account for approximately just 2% of this but the public perceive it to be much higher because it is so visible. More and more consumers are concerning themselves with environmental and social issues and 53% of UK and 66% of US consumers have considered switching brand due to corporate social responsibility. 51% said they or their family had boycotted a company because its products damage the environment.

For companies that send out large mailings our service helps to address corporate social responsibility and the issue of ‘producer responsibility’ in that all waste paper generated is disposed of properly. 80% of the carbon footprint for a piece of mail is in this ‘end of life’ solution. It also helps with BSI Standard PAS2020, Sustainable Mail and new EU directives on landfill,

Public perception about the much maligned ‘Junk Mail’ is skewed because it is so visible and in the home but opting out is all or nothing and who has not at sometime been prompted to make purchase from direct mail?

Protect your brand, reduce your carbon footprint, and save shed loads of money just call us now.

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

Wrong Delivery Addresses Cost Businesses 146m

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

Incorrect delivery addresses cost online UK businesses over £146m every year, according to a study released by Worcester-based IT firm Postcode Anywhere this week.

The Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) and Postcode Anywhere report found that every year 5.8 million items ordered online fail to deliver first time because of an error in the address.

Postcode Anywhere MD Guy Mucklow said: “It’s shocking that in this day and age we still can’t seem to fill out our addresses accurately. But the problem doesn’t lie with the customer: more often it’s a result of poorly-put-together online forms and ill-conceived data capture.

“E-commerce businesses are shooting themselves in the foot if they take shortcuts with their address forms. According to our results, every delivery that fails due to an incorrect address costs an average £25.50 to put right, through refunds, redeliveries and wasted man-hours.

“Averaged out, current levels of delivery inefficiency add 70p to the cost of every single parcel dispatched in the UK, and 75p for every delivery.

“Clearly, there is a strong argument for e-tailers to take more care in how they collect customer information. It even affects customer service levels: as consumers, we’ve probably all experienced the frustrating scenario of being forced to select a US state from a drop-down box, or abbreviate words because they won’t fit in the fields.

“While we’ve learnt missed delivery levels are high, it also seems likely that even more customers will never go through with the order in the first place if they meet with a particularly troublesome form.

“Solutions do exist which make the purchase process quicker for customers, and ensure addresses are captured accurately and easily. In fact, by installing technology that auto-fills an address from a UK postcode – such as that available from Postcode Anywhere – e-commerce vendors can sidestep these problems altogether.

“Postcodes collected from online forms cannot be underestimated – they’re even useful for delivery drivers’ sat-navs.

“We asked our customers, and two thirds of them said they’d noticed a reduction in the number of items lost in the post after implementing address auto-fill technology. Over 70% agreed it reduced shopping cart abandonments.

“But as this study shows, although many of the big names in e-commerce are wise to the benefits of address auto-fill and validation, a significant percentage of vendors can’t see what they’re missing.”

The research made findings representing more than 12 million online consumers, 3.5 million active online shoppers and almost 800 million home deliveries.

For information about Postcode Anywhere’s award-winning range of UK and international address auto-fill and validation software, visit www.postcodeanywhere.com

Posted in 'Gone away' mail, DMA, Direct Mail, Postal returns, Sustainable Mail | No Comments »

Cut the cost of returned mail handling and make your customers happy

Friday, April 9th, 2010

Would you like to reduce the cost of handling returned mail and enhance the service you offer your customers? Veridata established in 1996 provides a dedicated, automated and fast turn around data capture for returned and undelivered mail. We have the capacity to process large volumes at a competitive price and the ROI is substantial.

Our cost is more than met by the savings made, helps to meet the requirements of PAS2020 and Sustainable Mail and includes the safe destruction and recycling of all waste paper.

Licensed to process CodEffect 2d barcode, a powerful method of encoding large amounts of data and successfully used by HMRC and Tesco. Since using it, the latter have seen a 50% reduction in its operational costs for returned mail over the last six months.

Attracting a lower charge rate to capture than standard alpha/numeric data, we can return the data files on a daily basis if required. We tailor our service to save you money.

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

Royal Mail – A poisoned challice?

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

The final selection for a successor for Adam Crozier, chief executive at Royal Mail, is underway. Crozier is to begin a new post with ITV, but with Royal Mail about to step up its plans for survival; Crozier’s successor will have much to contend with including difficult industrial relations and a declining letters market.
According to the Press Association, Kate Swann, chief executive with WH Smith chief, is being tipped as the leading contender. In March 2009, Donald Brydon became a Non-Executive Director of the Royal Mail Group, replacing Allan Leighton. Royal Mail has seen several changes at the top in recent years but with now faces a real battle to retain its share of the D2D market to offset the decline in stamped mail, some of which has already been lost to rivals. Hellmail.co.uk (05 April 2010) http://www.hellmail.co.uk

Whoever takes this job is going to have a tough job on their hands, but unless someone drags this organisation into the real world I cannot see it surviving in its present form. The competition is hotting up and once the dust has settled on the election whoever is in charge will have to address the issue. It still raises the question as to who would want to invest in a business which EU rules force to run at a loss.

They have to make savings and a good start would be looking at their returned mail handling process, and the committment Adam Crozier gave in Copenhagen to cut their carbon footprint.

Posted in DMA, Direct Mail, Postal returns, Royal Mail, Sustainable Mail | No Comments »