Post Pricing - Any Alternatives

englishdesi

Hi All,

I run a small food supplements business and I post out our orders via Royal Mail.

Lately, as business has increased, I am spending an absolute fortune on postage, in excess of £200 a week.

Is there any alternatives or any ways we can manage this more cost effectively ?

Regards
Englishdesi

QuickKeith

All depends on how much each item costs but we use a company called Fastways for deliveries it is very good for us however total different business.

richt71

You can speak to the post office about a franking machine. You pay a fee for the machine then fee for postage via franking.

Savvy_Sue

When doing your sums for a franking machine, factor in the cost of ink, labels etc which are IMO exorbitant!

There is a slight reduction on the cost of the actual postage, but I really don't know at what point you'd break even.

AndysDad

I would have thought that most business's like yours add postage onto their orders,If not maybe start doing so.When I look in the various magazines/papers they seem to have quite high charges considering the weight of the supplements.

martindow

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

When doing your sums for a franking machine, factor in the cost of ink, labels etc which are IMO exorbitant!

There is a slight reduction on the cost of the actual postage, but I really don't know at what point you'd break even.

There is also a cost (6 pounds or so) each time you download a postage balance to the franking machine. I tried a franking machine for a month and have now returned it as for my postage turnover it did not make sense.

It is not clear from the original post whether you are sending items for free. People expect to pay something for postage and as long as it is not exorbitant will pay it rather than abandon orders. The costs of padded envelopes and other packaging tot up as well so you need to factor this in too.

Savvy_Sue

Agree with the 'free postage' bit: I expect to pay postage on small orders, I like sites with 'free' postage but recognise that the cost of the postage is then absorbed into my order.

Sites which give free P&P on larger orders tend to get larger orders from me. And sites which add a standard P&P charge to every single item I order, regardless of its size or weight, get no business at all from me. I nearly got caught by that when I wanted 10 USB sticks for work - got to the checkout and thought "That's a lot!", then realised they'd added something like £5 for EACH ONE!

So, maybe something to think about there?

richt71

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

When doing your sums for a franking machine, factor in the cost of ink, labels etc which are IMO exorbitant!

There is a slight reduction on the cost of the actual postage, but I really don't know at what point you'd break even.

You're right Sue. You've got to add up at which point a franking machine is worthwhile. I used to send a lot of direct mail for my business (200-300 letters a week) and it was cost effective to get a franking machine + printer/ink.