1) Plan in advance. Nothing can be more costly than last minute changes. Make a dummy of your package (brochures, business cards, flyers, direct mail pieces and so on) and make sure that it all works. For instance:

·         Everything fits into the outer envelope.

·         The order form fits into the BRE.

·         The outer envelope window is big enough to insure that you get the prebarcoding discount.

·         You've gotten a Reply Mail permit from the Post Office.

2) Allow enough time so as not to incur rush charges.

3) Bid out all jobs. Don't let a printer become complacent about his pricing. Take advantage of times when printers are hungry for work.

4) Ask your printers which sizes work best for them. Ask them to suggest alternatives that would save you money yet not really affect the design of your piece.

5) Prepare your disks correctly - send them to your printer with all necessary files. Disks must be accompanied by a hard copy of what you think is on them. They should also be accompanied by all live art and all live files. Transmittal instructions must include the names and versions of programs used to prepare them.

7) Proofread your artwork - don't make changes to your proofs. After film is made and you see proofs, changes mean that new film has to be prepared. This is expensive.

8) Reduce paper weight - you pay for paper by the pound. If you use less pounds you save money on paper and possibly postage as well. Use the lightest weight paper that does the job for you. For instance, Westvaco makes a 7pt Matte that weighs only 90#'s. This is a good stock for double postcards.

9) Use a lower grade of paper. Maybe a #4 Free sheet will work as well as a #3. Maybe a #4 groundwood would work, too.

10) Don't bleed if you don't have to. Bleeds require extra paper and extra cutting. Do you really need them?

11) Make lot changes simple for the printer. If you are testing prices or other copy, don't put the changes in type that reverses out of four colors. Don't use colored type made out of multiple colors. Use black or 1 PMS with nothing behind it or as a surprint.

12) Use standing dies. When designing envelopes, use dies that already exist. If your envelope converter doesn't have exactly the one you're looking for, ask him what he has that's close to what you want. He probably has something that will work just fine and you'll save a lot of money.

13) Don't date material. Don't print the date that the offer will expire unless it's absolutely essential. Don't date your letters. If the mail goes out late, you don't want to have to reprint. If you have left over material, you might be able to use it next time.

14) Combine pieces that print on the same or similar paper onto one press form, i.e., Letter and Flyer. You can also tint 1/2 of a sheet so that it looks like it's on another color paper.

15) Try to combine pieces on one press form if you have multiple lots. If you are printing an 8-1/2 X 11 letter on a press that can print four letters on one sheet, combine the test lots to reduce plate changes. If you are testing three prices with 10M pieces each and you are running an additional 70M pieces of your control, print the three test pieces and 10M of the control on one press form. Then change the necessary plates (hopefully only one) and run the additional 60M control pieces "four up", 15M sheets.

16) Print near your lettershop to help reduce freight costs, or ask your printer to quote the price delivered to your lettershop (F.O.B. Delivered). 17) Project future needs. If you know that you will mail 300M pieces in the next six months and they're not all mailing at once, you can still preprint some components like BREs.

18) Print continuous forms to work most efficiently with laser printers - printing can be rotated and you pay by the inch.

19) Check your bills carefully. The price may not be one you've agreed upon with the salesperson. There might be charges for extras that were to be included, there might be charges for extras that were not your problem but the billing department didn't know that.

20) Design your art so that you can use it more than once. Perhaps your brochure art can also be used for a space ad or on the web. Art from a "take one" display can be used on a lift letter. This becomes rather simple these days if you are using a computer to help you design your pieces. Take full advantage of these capabilities.

Hopefully, some of these ideas can help you cut your printing costs so that you can mail more or make more money or both.