What is commingling and why should I use it?

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In a print shop or letter shop, every cell, panel, book, or version is produced and submitted to the USPS as its own individual mailing. The down side to this is postage savings and delivery times. If your mailings are not very regional, localized, or saturated, they won't qualify for the deeper postage discounts.

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In a commingling environment, all of these individual mailings are combined physically into a single larger mailing. This larger mailing can be made up of many different customers, piece types, piece weights, postage types, etc... As the mail is processed through the MLOCR (Multiple Line Optical Character Reader) sorting equipment, each piece is uniquely barcoded then stored in a database with all applicable data. This would be postage type and rate affixed to the piece as well as customer information. If the piece is pre-barcoded, the applied barcode information is captured and stored in the database in the same manner as if the sorter did the address look-up and barcode the mail piece itself. Once all pieces are processed, the data is then put through an analysis using software designed for commingling. The software, with input from the user, creates a sort plan to finalize sorting of the mail. This is accomplished through a physical 2nd pass of some of the mail through the MLOCR. The amount reprocessed could be anywhere from a small portion of the mailing to all of it. All USPS paperwork (or eDoc - Mail.dat) is also generated by the software.

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Is commingling right for my mailing?

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Many would like you to believe that this is the best option for all of your mail. The truth is that all mail is not a good fit for commingling. Sending your mail to a commingler is supposed to improve delivery speed and decrease postage. This is balanced by you and/or your customer(s) needs. Sometimes it's better to send a portion of your mail to a commingler and submit the remainder of it to the USPS either yourself or through your other vendors such as a letter shop or printer.

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What to consider...

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• Do you want to be bothered with the task and cost of sorting and submitting the mailing yourself? 

• If you are using a printer or letter shop, can you get the same service without using a commingler?

• Would that option satisfy your mailing requirements? 

• Would you benefit from drop ship options typically provided by comminglers? 

• Is your mailing zip density saturated, local, or national?

• Would the costs associated with commingling in addition to preparation and transportation costs surpass the savings gained by commingling?

• Can the commingler meet your drop date and in-home commitments?

• Does the commingler have the additional volume needed to make your mailing qualify better?

• Would you benefit by splitting the mailing between the commingler and another vendor (letter shop or printer)?

• If the printer or lettershop does internal commingling, do they maximize qualification?