Don’t let your inserter vendor do you wrong

Smart, simple shipping and mailing solutions I Pitney Bowes

The feeds and speeds trap

There’s more to the story when considering a folder inserter for your mail.

Folding inserting machines help organizations improve productivity by automating manual paper handling processes, saving time and reducing costs. However, many organizations make the common mistake of basing their buying decision on only published speed and volume specifications found on the web, in a brochure, or in an RFP (request for proposal). 

Here’s the fatal flaw: Basing your decision solely on feeds and speeds ignores the appropriate questions that ensure you’ve selected the right machine for your specific business needs. You wouldn’t buy a car based only on the published horse-power or a house solely based on the square-footage. In other words, that published speed could simply be telling you how much faster you could be making mistakes. When the right questions aren’t asked and the prerequisite steps aren’t followed, organizations are left with manual work and a higher risk of errors. 

Here’s 3 simple things to make an informed decision on which folder inserter is right for your business.

01. The first question you should be asking is what are the consequences of getting it wrong? Can you be fined, audited, or even sued, for putting the wrong customer information into the wrong envelope? Automating manual processes is only good if it can be trusted. At Pitney Bowes, we call the process that ensures the right pages go into the right envelope: “Mail piece integrity.” Mail piece integrity that we integrate proven technology safeguards into each folder inserter to ensure that every page makes it into the correct customer’s envelope — whether that document be a single page or even multiple pages going into a flat envelope. These processes help protect private customer information and mitigate your exposure to the risks of getting it wrong.

02. The second thing to consider is your application or each aspect of your mailing jobs (outside of number of pieces and pages). This includes paper, envelopes sizes and details about the contents of the envelope, like is every document you send the same number of pages or can the number of pages vary by recipient? Do you occasionally include special inserts? Do you use windowed envelopes? These are important questions to ensure that the folder inserter you’re considering can actually handle all your jobs.

03. Now, once the safeguards are in place to protect private information and the application is defined, then and only then, should you consider the speed and volume specifications. For volume, or how many pieces of mail you actually produce, it is more important for your vendor to understand the average size of each mail run than it is to understand the total pieces you process monthly. For productivity, that published speed found in the brochure is known as the “chassis speed.” That simply defines best possible speed that the machine can feed a single-page document into an envelope.  Organizations should also pay attention to “sheet feeder” speed, particularly when some of their mail contains more than just a single piece of paper. The published chassis speed will be cut in half when feeding a second page. How quickly the folder inserter can truly handle your specific jobs in the timeframe you need, is the only speed you need to consider.

Partner vs. vendor

Your vendor might try to win your business by only pointing to those published specifications on a web page or brochure. A better vendor will partner with you by taking your unique business needs and processes into consideration.  

This may sound complex, but the good news is that we can help. Pitney Bowes offers a range of options to meet the level of privacy protection that your business requires and the flexibility to meet your sending process needs. Our experts will work with you to understand your needs and help your find the right folder inserter for your mail. Learn more about our table top inserting systems.

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