Sending out 10,000 newsletters

jobbingmusician

The charity I run sends out a newsletter three times a year (we may do this more often, in the future).

We had a deal with a bulk distributor which was actually cheaper than buying 10,000 2nd class stamps, but in September we were badly let down by our distributors, and we now need to find some new distributors. (For those of you who don't do bulk mailings, distributors can do it cheaper by sorting the mail and getting bulk discounts from Royal Mail)

Does anyone know a good bulk mail distributor? We would happily consider having the newsletter printed by them too, if this saved money!

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bridiej

Was just wondering, could you ask your members whether they are able to receive their newsletter by email? Would save you on stamps and time...

Rex_Mundi

bridiej wrote:

Was just wondering, could you ask your members whether they are able to receive their newsletter by email? Would save you on stamps and time...

To send out this many emails, you would need to sign up for a bulk emailing service or something similar (this would cost). If you sent out this many emails from your normal ISP email account, chances are they would pick this up and cut your service off for spamming.

A friend contracted a virus on his computer. It sent out 500 emails, and my friends ISP cut off his service (they thought he was spamming) untill he contacted them by phone. They reconnected him after he cleared the virus from the computer, but he was without broadband for 2 days because of this.

If you use a business ISP, you may be allowed to send out these amounts (check your terms/contract).

intel

Rex_Mundi wrote:

To send out this many emails, you would need to sign up for a bulk emailing service or something similar (this would cost). If you sent out this many emails from your normal ISP email account, chances are they would pick this up and cut your service off for spamming.

A friend contracted a virus on his computer. It sent out 500 emails, and my friends ISP cut off his service (they thought he was spamming) untill he contacted them by phone. They reconnected him after he cleared the virus from the computer, but he was without broadband for 2 days because of this.

If you use a business ISP, you may be allowed to send out these amounts (check your terms/contract).

Mmmm what about if the OP bought there own Webspace and Domain
and then had there Own Email SMTP from there own Domain then they could
send out as many as they liked then at a cost of Oooh about £30 a year or so... all they would have to do is design a email..

Rex_Mundi

intel wrote:

Mmmm what about if the OP bought there own Webspace and Domain
and then had there Own Email SMTP from there own Domain then they could
send out as many as they liked then at a cost of Oooh about £30 a year or so... all they would have to do is design a email..

Yes....It's not any specific method I was recommending (there are a few), but just a little warning that with a normal ISP, you wouldn't be able to send out this many emails in one shot. They would be likely to cut your service off.

intel

Rex_Mundi wrote:

Yes....It's not any specific method I was recommending (there are a few), but just a little warning that with a normal ISP, you wouldn't be able to send out this many emails in one shot. They would be likely to cut your service off.

Yeah I totally agree with that, Im just trying to think of a solution.

What about a franking machine... arent they cheaper rate..?

jobbingmusician

Thanks for your suggestions so far.

Yes, we do ask people if we can send their newsletter by email - but the numbers above are for the hard copies! We don't have a bulk email account, we just send the emails out in batches a few at a time, and get a volunteer (or several) to do this :rudolf: We have some great volunteers, but it took everybody from the CEO downwards a lot of time stuffing envelopes last month.... :rolleyes:

We have a franking machine, but we elected to use stamps last time as (I think it must be a basic model) the mcahine doesn't take envelopes with more than a few sheets - if you send out a newsletter you have to print the franking on to a sticky label, then attach the label to the envelope. (In fact it takes 2 sticky labels, as one has the code and logo on it ,the other the value of the franking). Quicker to use a stamp! There are some discounts for using a franking machine, but these apply to heavier items sent by first class post - our newsletters go out 2nd class for obvious money-saving reasons.

So the original question stands - info about cheap bulk mailing companies gratefully rec'd. :xmassign:

Keep the suggestions coming, though!!!

ukbill69

I good one is contact pitney bowes in harlow essex, tell them you send this much mail and you will get there boss come round with a sales guy to offer you a deal. Trust me dont take there first offer, add something like neopost are doing this deal for me, thats there main competitor. Maybe worth contacting neopost to.

Look here for suppliers:

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=600024&mediaId=4200013

Maybe worth contacting royal mail to see if you can get a bigger idscount from them.

jobbingmusician

Thanks, ukbill - I'll keep you .....ummm......posted :snow_laug
(Offf now until the new year, so will follow up on it then)

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gingerdad

We have used UKmail, part of business post they collect and it costs 19p for 2nd class very good all items seem to have been delivered okay, in the past i have used cumbria mailing services and one in dudley (which the names escapes me) both using the royal mail mailsort service, cumbria mailing printed my letters and packed the envlopes and it only worked out slightly more than 2nd class, if you can address them i would suggest either registaring yourselves with mailsort from the royalmail or using Ukmail or one of the other companies TNT and DHL both do it as do Parcelline for.... remember from Jan 1 the postal service becomes more de regulated.

I did contact the post office for my recent mailing and they wanted 20% surcharge to frank it for me and we had to take it to preston (only 50 miles away) but used UKmail, the collected it unsorted and only charged me 19p a letter

Regards

GD

katiepops_2

Personally I wouldn't recommend Neopost. My personal experience with them over the last year has been absolutely appalling - their staff are rude and their customer service is virtually non-existent.

Kate