This mail service provider reduced Certified Mail® prep time by 80%.
Universal Mailing Services Inc. (“UMS”) is a New Jersey-based Mail Service Provider with a long history of supporting the direct mail needs of various government agencies. In December of 2020, UMS was contracted to assist a municipality with a project that required the daily mailing of Certified Mail letters.
“The initial estimate was a few hundred pieces of Certified Mail per day,” explained Larry Brewer, VP of IT at Universal Mailing Services, “and we were comfortable handling the volume with mailing software we were already using, plus peel and stick labels specific to Certified Mail. But that quickly changed when the volume jumped to more than 1,000 pieces per day and we realized it was taking up to six hours of labor to produce each batch of 500 pieces.”
Fortunately, a recommendation from an existing supplier led UMS to SimpleCertifiedMail.com. SimpleCertifiedMail.com’s Batch Process imports addresses from Microsoft® Excel files and prints Certified Mail cover sheets (with the recipient and return address, electronic postage, and Certified Mail barcodes) on standard 8.5” x 11” paper that can be automatically finished in window envelopes using folders and inserters.
This solution met the client’s requirements and eliminated extensive labor requirements being carried out by the UMS staff at the time. UMS also began using Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) from SimpleCertifiedMail.com to simplify their reporting. “Simple Certified has some great APIs,” says Brewer. “So far we have automated the retrieving of our daily production report. I know there are other capabilities, such as automatically retrieving the Electronic Return Receipt. We’ll integrate those capabilities when the current or future clients request them,” explained Brewer.
When asked about any other benefits UMS gained by partnering with SimpleCertifiedMail.com, Brewer explained one in particular: “Early in the process, while reconciling the funds we had on account with SimpleCertifiedMail.com, it seemed we ought to have less money there based on what we had already mailed. I asked SimpleCertifiedMail.com about it and learned that a few pieces were automatically refunded when they were not accepted by the USPS within eight days of preparation.”
SimpleCertifiedMail.com told us “We want to be good stewards of the process,” said Brewer. “I call it exceptional!