Still Stuffing Envelopes by Hand?

!: Still Stuffing Envelopes by Hand?

Have you ever seen someone in your office spend hours folding and stuffing envelopes? Did you also ask them how they felt after doing the tedious work? Personally I've been fortunate and never have had a job stuffing envelopes; I do direct marketing campaigns with the help of a folder/inserter machine. A folder/inserter machine takes paper, folds it, then stuffs and seals it in an envelope for you. Let me repeat that one more time.

THERE IS A MACHINE THAT CAN FOLD AND STUFF STATEMENTS, INVOICES, CHECKS AND MARKETING INFORMATION FOR YOU.

I'd like to show you some examples of when it makes sense for a business to use a folder/inserter machine, but first let's get some assumptions.Typically we have accounts payable clerks and administrative assistants who do the folding and stuffing. Industry experts agree if a person is continuously folding and inserting for duration of time (greater than 30 minutes), the most a person can stuff is 100 letters per hour. An administrative assistant's median income (according to *salary.com) is ,548 per year. However, with benefits, the company is paying ,313 in true expenditure. A per hour value of this employee would be .61. An accounts payable clerk averages ,000 per year plus benefits which equals out to ,952. The average hour for an accounts payable clerk is worth .16.

Situation 1. (Small business, Small Need)

ABC Company has their administrative assistant, Mary, fold and insert 50 invoices daily. Also 20-30 checks go out once a week and are done by the accounts payable clerk, Bill.

We know Mary would take 30 minutes a day to fold and insert whereas Bill would spend about 15 minutes a week. Looking at it monthly, Mary is spending 7 hours a month Bill is spending 1 hour. The company is spending a total labor cost of 8.43 per month.

Solution: I would recommend a small folder/inserter- Which costs approximately ,500 or leased at approximately 0/monthly. The machine would cut most of the labor out. We'll say that it cuts labor down to 1/10 of the previous work load, or .84 dollars/month. If the labor is reduced to 3.59 per month, and the purchase of the equipment is 00, then the ROI on a purchase would be 20 months. On a lease, the company would have a .59 monthly surplus.

Situation 2- Larger Business, Larger Needs

XYZ Company has 80 employees sends 300-400 letters invoices daily. Invoices are folded by an admin. The invoices all have a BRE (business reply envelope) and can include one page, two page or three pages. Also 100 checks are sent out once a week. These are folded by the accounts payable clerk. Marketing also sends out mail, but they outsource it through a print house. The current marketing campaign is for customers only.

Solution: After doing the math, the labor costs of XYZ's mail process is 00.00 dollars every month. Looking at marketing, if the bills are going out to current customers, can't they simply put a sheet of marketing in the invoices? A mid level machine with a software solution does all of this. A mail software solution can assign digital dash marks onto the bills which tell the folder/inserter how many sheets to stuff in each envelope. Look on your next credit card statement; you'll see those dash marks on the left or right side of the sheet. The machine will take care of correctly putting the bills in the right envelope with no mistakes, insert a sheet of marketing, and even insert a BRE in the envelope as well. Estimateing the total cost saved with equipment is difficult here since mail houses all charge different rates however it's not unrealistic to beleive this company could save 3, 5 or up to ,000 dollars monthly. The cost of the solution: around ,000. Can't afford it all at once? A lease on this equipment isn't greater than a 0 monthly investement.

As you can see, even if you are at the low end of folding and inserting there's little reason for your company not investigating a folder/inserter. If your company is at the high level volume like situation 2, the need is even more obvious. I've taken you through a few real life situations and shown how a folder/inserter machine can save money in labor costs, and money in actual postage from a print house. If your company's needs are anything like the above, it would be worth your time to take a look into the possibility of a quality folder/inserter machine. In my next article, I'll go over some common misconceptions regarding why more companies don't invest in folder/inserter machines.

*Figure based on 234 working days in a year and 8 hour work days,

*Salary.com accessed 11/25/08 and numbers based in Deerfield, IL 60015