Cutting costs can seem impossible in an area where efficiency and economies of scale are out of reach. Companies producing their own statements have seen expenses rise considerably with no real strategy to manage them. As a result, organizations are turning to bill printing services.
What Are Bill Printing Services?
Bill printing services describes outsourcing the printing and mailing of these critical communications. Since PII (personally identifiable information) and PHI (protected health information) are typically present in these, there are rules and regulations associated with how to handle this sensitive data.
With these requirements, the costs associated with these operations are much higher than promotional or marketing content.
Why Bill Printing Services Reduces Costs
There are many categories of expenses for print and mail workflows. They include hard and soft costs, and they are rising. Let’s look at how you can actually lower your expenditures.
Physical Materials, More Expensive Than Ever
Commercial printing requires paper, ink, toner, and other physical materials. If you could purchase those at a high volume, you’d get a better price. It’s unlikely you can realize these advantages because your quantities are still too low.
Paper, specifically, has had volatile pricing for years. It began during the pandemic when there was less output. This picked up, but tariffs played a part in their increased cost last year. Transactional print and mail companies are able to purchase in bulk and have special contracts with manufacturers to ensure they have what they need at the best possible rate.
Ink and toner costs can fluctuate, as well. Again, volume purchases help keep these costs down.
Another component of this is eliminating waste. The White Paper Factory enables this by feeding large rolls of white paper into commercial inkjet printers. There’s no need for pre-printing and the waste associated with it.
Investing in Specialized Equipment and Technology
In a transactional setting, there is specific equipment and technology that make the system work and ensure accuracy and compliance. It’s more than just commercial printers; one of the most critical pieces is the insertion machines.
Transactional communications have the lowest rates of mis-mailing when using intelligent insertion. In this framework, each piece of paper has a 2D barcode scanned by a camera. The information from the scan feeds into the inserter so it knows which pages to fold into each envelope.
Investing in this creates capital expenses for you. They also need maintenance and upgrades. You won’t need any of these with bill printing services.
Skilled Labor: High Expense Category
To operate equipment and ensure compliance and accuracy, you need dedicated employees. They have specific skills and experience. As wages rise, this category becomes more expensive.
Outsourcing removes the need for this. Those employees can then work within your business on tasks that generate revenue and growth.
Postage: Always Rising
The cost of postage increases at least twice yearly. Sometimes, there are additional fees like fuel surcharges. The way to get the best rate is with high-volume presorting and commingling. You may not have the capacity to do this or have the necessary quantity.
Transactional communications companies are experts at this. They apply the USPS Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMb) for automation, perform address hygiene to remove duplicates and correct information, and involve other optimizations.
Overhead Adds Up
How much do you pay for utilities, rent, infrastructure, property taxes, and security? It’s likely significant and not decreasing. It can be hard to budget for this, as not all costs are predictable. You also never know when you’ll need to replace your HVAC or fix roof damage from a storm.
It’s another expense category that you can remove entirely. You can either repurpose the spaces or let them go.
Compliance, Legal, IT, and Administrative Costs
While these functions serve your entire company, they are necessary for print and mail. That’s especially true for compliance oversight. These roles will still be part of your organization, but they’ll have much less work in terms of bill printing.
Many outsourcing providers provide access to these roles to secure platforms where they can:
- Review jobs.
- Run reports.
- Store copies of sensitive information.
- Track mailings.
- View costs.
Information is all in one spot, so it’s easy to access.
Ready to Reduce Your Print and Mail Costs?
Bill printing services offer a way to outsource these activities securely and compliantly. PCI Group focuses solely on this type of print and mail, ensuring competitive rates without compromise.
Let’s talk about transforming your operations. Contact us for a consultation.
