Postcards not hitting homes

I started using a new company to do postcard mailings. The first mailing went out about 3 weeks ago to one mailing route and was 570 postcards. 3 of the 4 coupons on it were exclusive to this card so that I could gauge a response for it. After about 10 days from the mailing I noticed that I haven’t heard anything from anyone about receiving them or nobody have used any of the coupons. I waited a little longer and then after 2 weeks contacted the company to see what was going on. They got a document form USPS showing that they had done their part and mailed them. So I went to my facebook page a posted a pdf of the card and asked if anyone has gotten it yet, no one has.

Now what do I do? Am I just out the cost of the cards and postage for that mailing because somewhere in the system they got lost?

Go to the post office for that particular zip code and ask the carrier for that route if the cards arrived and were delivered. If not, the mailing company you used needs to help you track them down. The post office has “bag tags” that can be tracked as the mail moves through the system.

Some how the postcards hit today after being mailed out 3 weeks ago. Well atleast they got delivered.

Is there no “standard” for delivery/…

I do all my own mailings but one time last year I used a company to deliver once. It was the worst response all year. Some say it was because it was holiday time (November mostly) and people are distracted with other things at that time and they are being bombarded with advertising. Who knows but makes you wonder . . .

Does anyone have the cost difference between sending off your own post cards compared to services, like the one Crusher used?

PS yes, I know there are many kinds, so just throw out numbers if you have them instead of asking me size, permit, and numbers…

Crusher said he sent to “one mailing route”, so I’m assuming this was a saturation mail. Current rate for saturation is 13.9 cents per piece if you meet the standards for it - which is very easy to do with that type of mailing. A mailing service could be paying as high as 18.2 cents per piece if they are not receiving any entry discounts.

If these are city routes they’ll need to be addressed and sorted in walk sequence order. When you get a piece of mail that is labeled “ECRWSS” that stands for “Enhanced Carrier Route - Walk Sequence Saturation”. If that’s the case you would need to add at least one cent to the cost per piece because you will have to rent a mailing list. If these are going to rural routes you won’t need that - you can just use Simplified Addressing.

I’ve had similar results. When I do my own mailings, I consistently have around a 5% redemption rate. Twice I have used out of state companies to do my mailings for me, and have gotten a terrible response both times. I most recently used Mail Sharks for the past 4 months. First, let me say that Mail Sharks had excellent service, have great pricing, and put out a high quality product. Prior to signing on with them, I was doing my own mailings and like I said, I was getting a consistent 5%+ return each week. My last mailing I did on my own (2 weeks before my first mailing with Mail Sharks) I got a 7% return. Once I turned over my mailings to Mail Sharks, I only once got a return greater than 2% with most weeks hovering closer to 1%. By no means am I bashing Mail Sharks, I just can’t understand the difference in redemption rates compared to when I do my own mailings. I had the same results (low return rates) when I used another company out of Florida a few years back. On the flip side, I’ve used a local company over the years and have had great redemption rates. I just don’t get it. Maybe it’s just coincidence? I’ll find out here soon since this week is my last with Mail Sharks and I will be going back to doing my mailings myself next week.

I like to do my own. The post office takes roughly 2 days to deliver them. I like to drop them off Tuesday or Wednesday, this way they hit on Thurs, Fri, or Saturday.

Who knows when they’ll get delivered when you use a 3rd party.