Pitney Bowes, a provider of e-commerce, shipping and mailing solutions, is advising small businesses to analyze how they will be affected by the latest postal tariff increases from Royal Mail and Parcelforce.
From March 27, first and second-class stamps will rise by a penny, taking first class stamps to £0.65p (US$0.82) and second-class stamps to £0.56p (US$0.70). The Federation of Small Businesses reports that 99.3% of the 5.4 million private sector businesses in the UK are small businesses.
Ryan Higginson, vice president and UK/ROI country leader, Pitney Bowes, said, “This latest increase in postage costs is a wake-up call to small businesses to review how they manage their communication costs. The growth in the volume of parcels inevitably has an impact on postage costs, which can be challenging for a small business to keep up with. We want to ensure that all businesses understand the significant price advantages of using MailMark meters for their post. Collectively small businesses in the UK could save millions annually by making this switch.
“Shipping and mailing strategies are a springboard for small businesses to boost customer service and impress customers. This latest postal rate change will hopefully get SMEs to do just that.”
Pitney Bowes is advising SMEs to follow a five-step plan to improve their shipping and mailing and making sure that they are benefiting from the latest digital innovations:
Step 1: Gain a clear view of your data what you send, to whom, how much it costs and which carriers you use
Step 2: If you’re shipping parcels, shop around a multicarrier system can help you simplify your shipping operations and enable you to select the best carrier for every package
Step 3: Identify where you can make savings digital meters, or franking machines, provide a significant savings on postage stamps for example
Step 4: See what’s out there look at what’s changed since you last considered mailing technologies. From cloud-based platforms to wi-fi enabled meters, there’s been a mail revolution, so make sure you’re up to speed on your options
Step 5: Growth plan make sure the technology you’re selecting is future-proof and accelerates your growth, instead of hindering it
March 27, 2017
