It Fits. It Ships. PMOD: Use it for Faster and Cheaper Drop Shipments

Standard Mail® users are always looking for ways to improve delivery times without adding additional cost to their mailings.  Many of them employ complex entry point analysis tools to figure out just what is the best way to drop ship their larger mailings, but still struggle with how to best handle their smaller mailings.  What many of them don’t know, but a few of them are beginning to discover, is that by using the USPS Priority Mail Open and Distribute (PMOD) service, their mailings can achieve close to First-Class™ delivery standards while paying Standard Mail postage prices.  

Standard mailers use freight carriers to transport their large volumes of drop shipped mail. When there are too few trays to make a full pallet for direct entry, many mailers enter the trays locally. The USPS® has a great service called PMOD, which is an excellent tool for drop shipping these smaller volumes of mail.  PMOD is an underutilized service that many mailers don’t realize can expedite delivery times, manage in-home dates well (not early, not late) and reduce shipping costs.  PMOD lets mailers drop ship presorted mail to postal entry points using Priority Mail as the shipping method rather than a more traditional way such as truckload, less-than-load (LTL) or air freight.  In most cases, it is delivered faster and often for less money.  Visit DMM for more info on PMOD guidelines.

PMOD is a smart way to drop ship to entry points, especially for small to mid-size mailers.  The recipients receive mail sooner, on a more predictable date (less variation than the standard non-expedited Postal transportation) compared to mail they receive when the mailing is entered locally.  After all, isn’t it vital for time-sensitive materials such as dated coupons, sale-dated flyers, and limited-time offers to get delivered on time?

Mailers also use PMOD to drop ship the remaining origin entry level sacks or trays after the majority of the mail has been drop shipped using traditional transportation.  This helps keep in-home delivery more consistent without paying expensive minimum charges to transport only a few sacks or trays.  Mailers with small volumes who thought they didn’t have enough volume to drop ship may be able to take advantage of PMOD to obtain drop ship discounts.

Shipping to Alaska or Hawaii?

If you are experiencing delivery delays to remote or distant locations (e.g. Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico), or any location for that matter, PMOD can be a great way to shorten the delivery time.  Priority Mail has delivery standards of 2-3 days, so the mail gets entered into the postal entry points much more quickly than if the mail was locally entered at the printing plant or letter shop.  You can mail at the less expensive Standard Mail rates, but get close to First-Class delivery standards.

There are many instances where the total cost, PMOD postage and the destination-entered Standard Mail postage, is less expensive then locally entered trays. So you can actually prepare presorted mail with postage applied at the destination entry rates, then add the cost of PMOD transportation and get better service for a lower price. Yes, the total cost will still be less than bringing the mail to the local Post Office!  Mailers can also take advantage of drop ship discounts at entry points with low mailing densities (i.e, Butte, MT or Fargo, ND).

PMOD made easy

In the past, mailers shied away from PMOD because it involved a lot of manual labor – mail had to be physically separated and tagged with PMOD tags. Then a postage statement had to be generated by hand. Now, there are software solutions that allow these procedures to be automated, making PMOD much more time and cost-effective to use. 

Robust shipping software will let you automatically import Mail.dat® files, analyze which trays are best sent PMOD, print PMOD labels and the appropriate sack labels while also generating the required manifest reports and postal statements – AND provide valuable tracking services, e-mail notification and delivery information.  In addition, it will eliminate the work of having to generate a meter strip for each tray or sack by generating a manifest for PMOD sacks and trays.  This will account for each piece so a mailer can track the progress of the delivery of each container.  Ideally, the shipping software should also be able to maintain a central database to keep track of it all.

The best shipping software will also let users:

§  Prepare mailings ahead of time by allowing them to pre-date their mailings and have them mailed on the date they are entered in their system, without needing to reprint meter strips

§  Automatically get updated Drop Ship & Labeling List data as changes are made on the USPS website

§  Generate accounting reports, sorted by what was mailed and how much postage was paid for each client.

High volume Open and Distribute mailers

Mailers who process Mail.dat files and send high volumes of Open and Distribute mailings should invest in post-presort Mail.dat management software that can interface with their shipping software to automate the mailing and PMOD process and perform cost analysis as well. 

PMOD postage

The PMOD postage essentially replaces the shipping costs that freight carriers normally charge when more traditional drop shipping methods are used.  Presorted bulk mailings are then drop shipped to a facility closer to where the mail is to be delivered. Mail is transported within one to three days and is delivered faster at a reasonable cost.  

Mailers who drop ship smaller volumes of mail and pay high shipping costs and experience long delivery times owe it to themselves to give PMOD a try!