Unaddressed Admail for the “Uninformed”

posted by Dave Ward in Direct Mail General.

Pertinent Note

If you have never used this product, please do not discount it too quickly. Featuring state of the art technology, it allows you to target by a number of demographics including age, income, children etc. and it is a powerful but affordable tool that can help you expand your customer base.

As 2011 begins to wind down, there is a bit of confusion as to how much a given Unaddressed Admail mailing might cost in 2012. This stems from the facts that a) as of April 23, 2012 there will be a 1.5 cent surcharge¹ for pieces delivered on High Demand Routes and b) during 6 months of the year there will be a 10% discount applied to the base rate.

Of course, we must also take into account that we have both Basic rates and Premium rates for Delivery to Businesses, Oversize Pieces and “Specified Delivery Dates”. Lastly, don’t forget that the criteria for Standard size varies depending on whether you are mailing through letter carrier offices or non-letter carrier offices.

The table below illustrates different postage rates for both Basic and Premium Addressed Admail for 2012. Note that these increases are effective on January 16, 2012 and that the surcharge for High Demand Routes begins on April 23, 2012.

Table of Non-Contract Unaddressed Admail Postage Rates for 2012

Notes:

• all prices shown to 4 decimals, as we are uncertain how rounding will be applied
• all prices below are for items weighing up to 50 grams
• Canada Post transportation fee (optional) of $0.008 not included
• HDR denotes High Demand Route
• seasonal discount has not been applied to HDR Surcharge

* As of January 16, 2012
**As of April 23, 2012

Although the pricing may appear confusing on the surface, this table allows you to see at a glance what you would pay for postage in any given month and is a handy tool in Unaddressed Admail campaign planning (so feel free to bookmark this post for future reference).

I also want to note that, if these rates seem a bit expensive when compared to delivery through your local newspaper, there are some real benefits with Unaddressed Admail that you just don’t get elsewhere. Volume contracts are also available, starting at 100,000 pieces per year.

Canada Post is the Keeper of the Keys

Canada Post is the only keeper of the keys for apartment and condo mailboxes. These delivery addresses represent a broad range of income earners and interest groups and can make up a large percentage of a target market.

Powerful Targeting Tools

We also can’t forget the value of Canada Post’s GeoPost system, which will soon be known as “Data and Targeting Solutions”. This system allows us to target pretty much whomever we want to reach by demographics, distances and clusters of similar consumers. I have written before about how direct mail allows you to decide whom you want to mail to. While this may not be as target-specific as Addressed Admail, it does allow you to reach a fairly high percentage of addresses within a target group.

So, shortly into the New Year, we will be looking at quite different pricing for the Unaddressed Admail product. You likely know the best times to promote your business. However, using the table above, you can decide if you might be able to enjoy both a “best time” and “best price” mailing date, or where you might compromise to come up with your optimum time(s) to mail.

If you have any questions regarding the new pricing for Unaddressed Admail or the new targeting tools, call Highland Marketing today. One of our seasoned mailing professionals would be pleased to help you.

¹ Canada Post refers to this as a “premium”. However, given that there are both Basic and Premium services levels and that the 1.5 cent premium can be applicable to both, we have opted to use the term surcharge to avoid using the word premium in two different contexts.