How to Save Printing Costs in 2010

Big savings potential exists from finding the best co-mail pools. Mailers report savings of up to 4 cents/catalog from co-mail. A savings of 4 cents/catalog translates into $4,000 over a mailing of 100,000 catalogs, or $400,000 over an annual circulation of 10 million catalogs. Moving from a co-mail program that yields 2 cents/catalog in savings to 4 cents/catalog in savings will yield $200,000 in cost savings for a mailer with an annual circulation of 10 million catalogs.

Co-mail programs are evolving: Printers and mailers are moving from in-line co-mail programs where the printer arranges for two to four partners to off-line co-mail pools with many more partners. While in-line pools work well for some mailers, off-line pools typically offer more savings. Printers profit from arranging co-mail pools and are increasingly moving toward building off-line pools.

How do off-line co-mail pools work? Printers bind catalogs so the co-mail ink-jet line takes the bound catalogs and ink-jets the name and address on the back cover. Off-line pools max out at around 2.5 million to 3 million catalogs. At that size, there's not much more incremental carrier route discount to be found by building out larger pools.