Company Puts Stamp on USPS Downsizing

A cost-cutting, labor-saving measure by the U.S. Postal Service has one Traverse City company profiting on the federal agency’s downsizing. What’s more? Both are thrilled.

“The USPS is losing on average $25 million a day due to legislative tie-ups (largely due to a health care pre-funding requirement),” says Linda Kniat of TC-based Maple River Direct Mail. “And they don’t have the money they used to get off of first-class mail.”

Enter Maple River. Since 2009, the company has had a work share agreement with the USPS that takes local businesses’ first-class mail off of its hands.

“They don’t want it,” says Kniat, who worked for USPS for 13 years before joining Maple River in 2000 as its director of sales and marketing. “By Maple River doing the bulk of the work, the Postal Service saves money.”

And so can you: Switching to Maple River benefits businesses currently using an USPS postage meter to stamp outgoing first-class mail, which costs 46 cents. Businesses that sign up with Maple River are charged .433 cents, with pickup and delivery included in that rate.

Denise Owens, Traverse City’s acting postmaster, says having the mail already “broken down” by Maple River helps the USPS save on labor and wear and tear on machines.

Here’s how it works: Maple River has a machine that reads addresses, assigns the mail a barcode, and sorts it by ZIP code. The postal service rebates a portion of the postage to Maple River in exchange for the work. As an incentive, Maple River shares a portion of this rebate with customers. The company processes anywhere from between 17,000 to 20,000 presort pieces a night. The more volume it does, the bigger its paycheck.

Among its local clients saving three cents a piece on first-class mail: American Waste, Traverse City Area Public Schools, Northwestern Michigan College and several area banks and credit unions.

What’s more? No minimum piece requirement for the discounted first-class postage rates. Don’t think you produce enough mail? Maple River offers flexible pick-up schedules for less-frequent mailers.

To date, Maple River has processed 12 million pieces through this presort service, Kniat says.