What is commingling and why should you be using it?
Commingling has been around for many years and until now was mainly used as a way for smaller mailers to presort their mail. The reason for its increased popularity is due to the recent rate changes for BMC and SCF discounts. As a result, it’s now more financially attractive for most mailers to commingle their mail.
So to define commingling: it’s the act of taking your direct mail and sorting it with other company’s mail to qualify for postage discounts.
In theory, this can apply to nationwide mailings of all sizes, but usually really large mailings (1 million plus pieces) already have a significant portion of their mailing going to the BMC or SCF level. The portion that isn’t, however, would benefit from commingling.
The way it works is this:
You take your mail file and sort it into zip code sequence. Then the mail house will image only the bar code and address information on to the addressing panel. There is no Optional Endorsement Line imaged.
Your vendor will then pick up the mail and put it on sorting equipment that takes each individual piece of mail and sorts it to either the BMC or SCF level based on what they’ve received from other mailers. As a result, this gives you deeper postal penetration and discounts.
Furthermore, here’s a PDF that gives you some visual examples of how commingling affects delivery.
Download the PDF Here.
And we also recommend you watch our 5-minute commingling video.
If you aren’t currently commingling your mail, it’s definitely worth speaking with your print and mail vendor because the postage savings can be substantial.
If you’d like to speak to us about what your postage rate would be using commingling, please contact Matt Cote: 973-305-1500 x207 or matt (at) ballantine.com.
I'm the Director of Digital Services and Partner at Ballantine, a family-owned and operated direct mail & digital marketing company based in New Jersey. and started in 1966 by my great uncle!
