Postage isn’t cheap any more. And it’s going up again at the end of April. A second class stamp is going up to 50p from 36p, and a first class stamp is going up to 60p from 46p. So what does this mean from a direct mail point of view?

Lets do a bit of maths. At the current rates and looking at just the postage costs alone, if a company was to send out literature to 10,000 customers, it would cost them £3600 for second class postage or £4600 for first class postage. A rise of 14p, whether first or second class postage will add a further £1400! Don’t know about you but that seems a bit steep to me!

I know that when you buy bulk postage there is a degree of discounting, but from previous experience it’s not enough to cause much of a dent into an extra £1400. Sending out a leaflet to 10,000 of your previous customers at a cost of £6000 is quite extraordinary. If you’re a small business looking to give your company awareness a boost, this has suddenly become a much more expensive way of doing so.

Add on the cost of the leaflet/booklets or other literature, printing costs, art work, delivery, then the cost of the envelopes then you’re looking at a £10,000 campaign. Something which should have been a cheap, simple exercise has now become an expensive undertaking.

Will this stop companies using mail shots as much now? I think so. I’m thinking that more and more companies are going to use email campaigns to contact their customer on mass rather than traditional mail. And who would blame them? Postage is just becoming way too expensive and will eventually kill off mail marketing campaigns.