Sixth Edition:

            Welcome to the sixth edition of the MSC Newsletter.    The construction season on campus has started.  If you are moving, this is a friendly reminder to inform Mail Services to continue receiving your mail.  In addition, as we come to the end of the fiscal year, people wonder where their mailing budget has gone.  I offer some tips to reduce your mailing expenditures.  As usual, if you have any questions/concerns please contact me @ smcovey@ilstu.edu or 8-8383.

Shannon Covey, Director of Mail Services

Department Relocation

The summer time is a prime time for work to be completed on campus buildings.  If your department is being relocated, please remember to inform Mail Services of your new location and the date to start delivery in the new location.  It is not necessary to change your address with anyone that mails items to you because Mail Services delivers by the mail code and we will make any necessary changes here.  If you change your mailing address with anyone, it makes it very difficult to change it later.  We still receive mail addressed when Schroeder departments moved and changed their address with those outside the University.  This can cause problems later if a mail piece does not have the campus box on the piece.

Mailing Expenditures

It is at this time of the year that people start to worry about their expenditures because they are running out of funds.  The proper time to address this issue is throughout the entire year.  Below are a few ways to control the expenditure’s in your postal budget.

FedEx Packages

Each year at this time, I review the packages sent via FedEx.  We do not send many packages via FedEx, but the numbers of packages are starting to rise again and I am trying to inform everyone that they are not the preferred carrier of the University.  After reviewing the numbers, the package expenses via FedEx are 81% higher than UPS.  You could almost send two packages for the cost of sending one package with FedEx.  An extreme example is an overnight envelope sent to the East coast will cost $23.50 with FedEx and $9.63 with UPS.  The other problem is that FedEx charges $4.00 for each pickup and with the fuel surcharge, these increases to $5.00.  Eliminate this charge by dropping the package at a FedEx drop location.

Insurance

When shipping a package with UPS or FedEx, do not over insure the package.  Insurance costs $0.55 / $100 after the first hundred dollars.  Only insure the package for the actual cost of the item.  If a package receives damaged during shipping, then UPS and FedEx will only pay for the media on which the content is recorded.  For example, if a video were damaged, then UPS and FedEx would only pay for the video tape and not the cost of creating the video.  If a check were insured, UPS and FedEx would only cover the cost of stopping payment and reissuing the check.  Please remember this fact when insuring your packages.

Extra Services

Signature Required – When you request this service, there is an extra charge.  Requiring a signature insures that a package will not be left without someone signing for it.  This is fine for a package addressed to a residential address if you want to make sure that a package is safely received.  However, when you add this to a package that is delivered to a business, a signature is usually received without adding the extra fee onto the shipping costs.  The signature may be viewed on the UPS and FedEx tracking pages with the proper tracking number. 

Saturday Delivery – If you request Saturday delivery, please make sure someone is going to be at the address to receive the package.  There have been instances where the University has paid for Saturday delivery and then have the business be closed.  This is a waste of money and this service adds an additional $12.50 plus the fuel surcharge. (Currently the total would be $15.63)

Bulk Mail

If you are doing a bulk mailing, please plan ahead.  If you plan ahead, than you can utilize non-profit mail instead of 1^st class mail at a much cheaper rate.  This would cut the cost of mailing a 1oz letter in half ($0.209 vs. $0.42) and the cost of a 3 oz letter from $0.76 to $0.209.  The non-profit mail will take longer to be delivered, but at a much cheaper cost.  Please contact Mail Services for specific information.

Web Site

Every issue of the Mail Service newsletter, I mention the website and some of the features that may be found there.  The reason that I do this is because I want to give our customers the best service that we can.  The website offers many features that some people do not know exist.  There are a couple of different ways that the website can help you reduce your expenditures for mailing.

Estimators – Mail Services has a domestic and an international estimator on our website.  This can help you decide the best way for a package to be sent and give you a good estimate of the cost of sending the item. 

Transactions by Date – This will display all transactions posted to a specific account and will allow you to see where your postage budget is being spent.

Account Totals – This will display the monthly totals for your account and will help you keep an up to date idea of the amount of money that is coming out of your budget.

As always, we appreciate any feedback that you give us that will help us improve the services that we offer.  Please complete a Customer Satisfaction Survey on our website or contact me directly.  This concludes the Mail Service newsletter; please let us know if you have any questions or comments.  We are always trying to improve our services and welcome any input from our customers.

Shannon