Gotcha Gang Scores Big Twice Today

Kitchener ON Tuesday July 24, 2007

Early this morning the gang scooped an easy $6,150 on the north side of town on a Lettermail mailing, where the pieces weighed 31 grams.

The envelope was the culprit. The pieces were mailed in using 5 7/8” X 9” envelopes, which weigh 7 grams.

Looking at the materials, they could well have been mailed in a standard number 10 envelope, weighing only 6 grams. This would have reduced the weight from 31 grams to 30 grams. Unfortunately, the 1-gram difference resulted in the pieces being mailed at a whopping $0.93 each, rather than $0.52. The $0.41 difference on the 15,000 piece Lettermail mailing resulted in excess postage costs of $6,150.

And then another hit. . .

Not happy with just their early morning take, the gang struck again on the other side of town, under similar circumstances.

50,000 promotional pieces with samples, each weighing 101 grams, were mailed in 5 7/8” X 9” envelopes. Unfortunately, the maximum weight for the Short/Long category for pre-sorted Addressed Admail is 100 grams. Beyond this weight the pieces are considered Oversize. In this case, the difference between the Short/Long postage at 100 grams and the Oversize postage at 101 grams was $7,056.46. This represents a difference of about $0.14 per piece!

As in the first case, a number 10 envelope could have been used, dropping the weight to 100 grams, saving the mailer over $7,000.

The Gotcha Gang had a great day, netting over $13,000 in two separate hits. Who knows where they might strike again!

Please note that the Gotcha Gang is not Canada Post. The Gotcha Gang represents the effect of decisions that result in paying excess postage, labour costs or minimizing opportunity. Most of these releases are based on actual events, though dates and locations may be fictitious.