5 Reasons You Should Outsource Printing And Mailing

Why Should You Outsource Print And Mail Services?

The decision to work with a print and mail provider is one made with careful consideration.

This guide will help you see if outsourcing is the right choice for you.

Read on to discover the answers to some of the most common questions about the process, and to explore 5 of the strongest reasons you should outsource your printing and mailing.

Reason 1: USPS Expertise

Knowing how the postal service works can net you significant price savings, but navigating USPS requirements can be complex without an expert.

For example, senders that use automated mail qualify for USPS discounts. This is because these mailings are designed to be compatible with the USPS’s automated sorting equipment, which helps the postal service get work done quicker and helps the sender get their mail delivered faster.

In order to obtain these price savings, however, your mailings need to be prepared according to the USPS’s guidelines for automated mail. Each mailpiece must contain a unique 65-bar intelligent mail barcode (IMB), and the IMB must be placed in a specific location on the mailpiece. The addresses for automation-eligible letters must be checked against USPS-certified software, called CASS, which ensures that more mail gets to its intended destination.

Those who manage printing and mailing in-house have to spend valuable time learning these and other requirements, and they may make mistakes or work inefficiently. The teams at printing and mailing vendors have navigated USPS requirements for many years. They know how to prepare your deliveries so they arrive at the right destinations on time and so that they are eligible for USPS discounts.

Reason 2: Infrastructure Costs

You may not have the infrastructure you need to handle printing and mailing in-house, and obtaining the right machinery can be cost-prohibitive.

To illustrate, D4 Solutions’ production floors feature the Canon CS6900 roll-fed printer and the Canon varioPRINT i300 sheet-fed printer, among others. The CS6900 can print up to 417 feet of paper every minute, while the varioPRINT i300 can print up to 300 sheets of paper per minute. If you want to print at that scale in-house, you need to invest in high-volume printers.

Outsource printing services also use inserters to speed up print runs. Instead of requiring employees to insert documents into envelopes by hand, these machines do so automatically. Inserters also allow for customizable runs, where certain documents are inserted in some envelopes but left out of others. Using these machines can prevent mistakes that arise when these operations are handled manually.

By itself, the infrastructure needed to handle high-volume printing in-house is extremely expensive. That’s not to mention the costs that organizations face when developing space for machinery and potentially hiring additional personnel to manage the process.

Reason 3: Employee Productivity

In-house printing is managed by internal employees. If you don’t hire new printing-focused team members, then employees that complete printing jobs are taken away from other responsibilities. They might not be experts on printing and mailing, leading to inefficiencies or to mistakes.

When you choose to outsource, on the other hand, you enter into a partnership with a team that knows exactly how to handle print and mail. This frees up your employees to complete work that is more aligned with their job descriptions.

At D4 Solutions, this partnership involves working with a dedicated project manager assigned to each client. That project manager schedules regular meetings as frequently as each client needs, addresses any issues, and asks the right questions to keep projects running smoothly.

Reason 4: Security And Compliance

Getting printing and mailing right is extremely important if your organization is in a highly regulated industry, such as finance, healthcare, or government. Outside providers know how compliance regulations apply to print and mail workflows, helping you avoid costly legal violations and data breaches.

At D4 Solutions, we have many years of experience working with organizations that face stringent compliance requirements, and we ensure that our workflows feature stringent data security protocols.

Our production floor is an example of how secure print and mail vendors implement these controls at scale. All customer files sent to D4 are end-to-end encrypted, both in transit and at rest. We implement multi-factor authentication and roles-based access control so that only employees who need to view data are able to do so.

Each mailpiece is tracked throughout the facility with 2D barcodes, so you know who accessed which documents and when. IMBs allow you to track the locations of your documents once they’ve entered the mailstream, and you can easily see this data via your personalized customer portal, which is accessible 24/7. D4’s workflows have been HIPAA and SOC 2 Type II audited, demonstrating our commitment to compliance.

Reason 5: Improved Customer and Client Experience

Everything you do is for your customers. Choosing print and mail outsourcing helps give them the customer experience they expect.

Outsource mailing providers know how to ensure shipments reach their final destinations when they need to. If a mailpiece is marked as undeliverable by the USPS, it can take a significant amount of time to arrive, and if the recipient of that mailpiece needs their billing statement, notice, or ballot quickly, these delays are unacceptable.

Data breaches and compliance violations break the trust that customers and clients place in you when they give you access to their sensitive data. Outside vendors know how to properly safeguard consumer data in printing and mailing contexts, preventing these mistakes.

6 Common Misconceptions, Addressed

If you’re considering partnering with a print and mail provider, you may still have some questions. Here are answers to 6 common ones:

“Will We Lose Control Of Our Documents?”

The best print and mail providers keep you involved during every stage of the document production and mailing process.

For instance, at D4 Solutions, our project management team meets with you and addresses any questions you have up front. We also complete thorough test runs, and we don’t start production until you have reviewed your proofs and given approval. This combination of client communication and pre-print testing has benefitted both us and our customers substantially, giving us a 99.99% operational accuracy rate.

“Is Outsourcing Only For Large Organizations?”

Outsourcing is a great choice not just for large organizations, but for small and medium-size organizations as well. If you don’t have a print expert on your team, then partnering with an external vendor helps you obtain discounts and send mailings that comply with USPS guidelines. Your internal employees may not know how to accomplish this. Outsourcing also frees up your team members so that they have more time to focus on other tasks.

“Will Turnaround Times Slow Down?”

Printing and mailing firms get your documents delivered on time. For example, D4’s 99.99% operational accuracy rate encompasses on-time delivery; we get documents where you need them to be, when you need them to be there.

“Are Print And Mail Providers Secure And Compliant?”

Outsource printing providers, especially those with experience in highly-regulated industries, are well-versed in compliance requirements and can help you apply them to print and mail workflows. If you’re unsure whether a printing vendor is the right fit for you, see if your potential provider is SOC 2 Type II audited. This framework measures adherence to stringent data security protocols over an extended period of time, usually 3-12 months.

“Can We Customize Our Workflows If We Outsource?”

Yes, you can! Print and mail providers offer many opportunities to personalize your workflows. At D4 Solutions, our project management team speaks with you and helps ensure that your workflows meet your exact specifications, no matter your industry, shipment size, or document type. Each client is also provided a 24/7 custom branded web portal, which they can use to access reports on whichever metrics they request.

“Will We Be Able To Make Last-Minute Changes?”

Organizations that need to make last-minute changes can file change order requests, which are efficiently processed and handled. It’s simple, and it helps you get your documents to your clients and customers on time.

D4 Solutions: Your Outsource Print And Mail Services Partner

Across 45 years of print and mail experience, we’ve learned how to manage customized workflows for clients across industries. We get your documents delivered where they need to be, securely, accurately, and on time. Reach out now to learn how we can meet your print and mail needs.