It's in the mail - review of six mailing software packages - includes related articles about recommended product and carrier route coding - Software Review - Evaluation

Home Office Computing, June, 1995 by Geoffrey Hollander

WHEN BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SAID THE ONLY SURE things in life are death and taxes, he should have added, "... and ever-rising postal rates." Because mail costs continue to climb--and because direct mail continues to be one of the most powerful selling media--the discount you get with bulk mailing can save your small business a lot of cash.

But there's more to a successful bulk mailing than just mastering U.S. Postal Service requirements. What's the best discount? How can you take advantage of automation and bar codes? Finally, how do you arrange all that mail and prepare the necessary-and complicated--paperwork? The six mailing software packages we review solve these logistical and organizational problems.

Bulk mail is part of what the Postal Service calls a workshare program. When you share part of the work necessary to send your mail, you are repaid in postage discounts. With bulk mail, you can send a 32-cent letter for as little as two cents.

Bulk-mail preparation includes arranging your mail into proscribed "packages" (rubber-banded bundles of letters), which you then group and place into sacks or trays. This is known in the industry as presorting. Each level of first-, second-, and third-class presort is based on specific packaging and bagging requirements that reflect many different discount rates. Once you presort the mail, it's time to take it to the local bulk-mail center, pay the postage, and submit the required paperwork.

Purge Your Records The most important features in mailing programs are their ability to output labels and files in postal presort order, produce some or all of the required Postal Service paperwork, find and process duplicate records (known as purging), and in some cases, apply postal codes to your list (see the accompanying box, "Carrier Route Coding," for more information).

Because bulk mailing can entail thousands of pieces of mail, processing speed is important. Another consideration is what presort levels a product offers (currently, only ArcList provides second-class presort capabilities; Mailer's 4, for example, doesn't support carrier route presorts). You'll also want a package that does most of the paperwork for you and processes duplicate records.

Don't Get Duped A key function of mailware is finding and elim inating duplicate records. There's no better way to project indifference or incompetence than by sending several of the same mailing to one person. Each package offers several ways to find these strays. You can eliminate or edit the records altogether, throw them in another file, or list them in a "dupe" report for later list cleaning.

Accuracy is also an important factor: When we tested the same list of 10,000 records, for example, we discovered that PostSave III was able to find 500 more duplicates than ArcList, and PreSort Pro found another 500 using the same search criteria.

Finally, consider a program's flexibility. Programs that force you to make your list conform to their specifications, rather than the other way around, are suitable only for in-house lists that you've initially developed in the program itself-not for mailing lists from different sources.

The products in this roundup all do a good job of handling bulk-mailing chores, so ultimately you'll base your decision on list size, mailing frequency, and whether the program supports the levels of presort you use most often. If your list is scattered nationally, automation and bar coding will be your best bets. If you mail to a small but concentrated area (the four or five zip codes that surround your business location, for example), then carrier route presorts can save you up to an additional 3.6 cents per piece of mail.

Businesses that mail to small lists occasionally or use their lists only for printing mailing labels may do just fine with a basic mailing package. Businesses with existing databases, large lists, or several different lists (a direct-mail consultant, for example) will probably need the more extensive capabilities offered by applications designed with the professional mailer in mind.

To give you an idea of where you fit in, fewer than 5,000 records constitutes a small mailing list; a medium-size list includes between 5,000 and 25,000 records; and more than 25,000 records is large. Also keep in mind that a healthy mailing list grows about 20 percent a year, so plan accordingly when you choose your package. Bulk

Just remember: You don't have to be a professional mailer to mail professionally. (Unless otherwise noted, all prices given are list.)

ArcList

Rating: ** 1/2 DOS ArcList was the first fully featured mailing program for PCs, and it is still one of the most popular mailware applications in use today. ArcList offers a complete range of presorts, including second-class mailings and destination discounts. The program will create all the required U.S. Postal Service presort information and paperwork for bulk mailing except the 3600 and 3602 postage reports for first- and third-class mailings, respectively.