Charities face hike in postage costs

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.precisionmarketing.co.uk/Art ... costs.html

Charities are facing spiralling postage costs after Royal Mail warned it can no longer guarantee to reimburse them when donors put stamps on freepost envelopes.

The move, which it is claimed could cost charities millions of pounds in extra postage costs, has been sparked by the introduction of new automated sorting systems. In the past, many charities have encouraged the practice as it saves them thousands of pounds a year.

The issue is understood to have been raised with Royal Mail by client group Direct Marketing in Fundraising Group (DMiFG). Following the DMiFG’s enquiry, Royal Mail has contacted a number of charities to clarify that the terms and conditions of the Business Response Service do not allow for postage to be paid by the sender, and that the practice should be discouraged.

Cascaid strategy and planning director Roger Lawson says: “Ultimately, this is going to cost the sector a lot of money. Over the years it will be in the millions.â€

[DGP1]

I don't understand how that works! Whenever I do business response mail I always remove the ones that have stamps on them and do not count them in the final total, so unless there are other ways of working across the country then there should be no problem (or it could be to do with a super duper machine that'll break down on a regular basis).

[jimmy p]

It's not the manual sorted that's the problem it's the LSM machine's - they sort via postcode first and as each BR has a unique postcode this is then sent direct to RP who then bill the customer.

[DGP1]

So I shouldn't have to count BR's manually then

[jimmy p]

You only should count manual items no Mech.

Double check that this is same process in your area first though!!!