How to Save Money on International Mail

1) Don’t Drop off Your International Mailing at the US Post Office

If you drop off your mailing at the local post office, you’ll essentially be paying full retail price for your mailing. This is by far the most expensive way to mail printed matter overseas.

2) Use Different Mailing Methods for Different Countries Around the World

You’ll save a ton of money if you optimize for the best rate to each country in your mailing. There are many postal services that deliver mail to countries around the world. Each company has published rates to all of the countries they deliver to, and these rates can be quite different.

3) Check to Make Sure Your Mailing is not Being Handled by a Single Carrier

For many publications, the international portion of the mailing is a small percentage of the overall job. Often the printer will provide letter shop services for the domestic mailing and offer to take care of the international portion as well. Unfortunately, in many cases, they will simply place your job with a single carrier, and you will not be getting the best rates to all countries.

4) Avoid any Contract that Locks You Into Fixed Price

Postal rates, currency fluctuations, fuel prices, and many other factors impact the cost of delivering mail around the world. If a vendor offers to lock you in for a year or two the only way they can do this is to pad their pricing enough to ensure they are always making money on your mailing. Trust me; they will never write a contract where it costs them more to process your mailing than you are paying.

5) Be Wary of Price per Pound per Region Pricing

When you see a quote done this way it is a sure sign that your mailing is not optimized for each country. Your price will be based on the most expensive country in the region, and the vendor will be making huge profits on the least expensive countries in the region, especially if your mailing has a lot of recipients in the less expensive countries.

6) Don’t Wait Until the Last Minute to Mail Your Magazines

The most cost-effective way of getting mail around the world requires delivery times of seven to ten days. If your publication doesn’t have extremely time-sensitive information, you can save a ton of money by taking advantage of economy rates.

7) Understand What Impact the Piece Size has on Mailing Costs

The shape and size of your mail piece will have an impact on the price that you will pay. Most magazines, large envelopes, and newsletters are categorized as flats. If your piece exceeds the size of a flat, the cost of mailing them will increase.

8) Understand How the Piece Weight Affects Mailing Costs

All postal authorities have different weight bands. If you are aware of what the weight bands are, you may be able to adjust the piece weight to fall into more favorable weight bands. Don’t forget to consider the other things that affect piece weight including carrier sheets, labels, and moisture content.

9) Check to See How Long it Takes the Mailing Company to Quote a Job for You

With the aid of computers, optimized quotes can be generated in minutes. All the mailing company should require from you is the piece size and weight, and a breakdown of the number of pieces going to each country. An international mail quotation that is generated by hand cannot possibly take into consideration all the factors that go into rate optimization.