Basic HTML Version
08
| p2p Magaz i ne | Wi nter 2013
01732 759725
COVER STORY
Delivering in
the mailroom
Totalpost Services Plc operates out of three facilities inWarrington,
Swindon and Cumbria; supplies its products and services to companies
in more than 38 countries and has businesses in the USA, France and
(soon to be) Germany.
Totalpost’s offering is comprehensive,
it includes the supply and maintenance
of products such as franking machines,
cartridges, postal scales, letter openers
and inserters; mail management,
business continuity and disaster
recovery services.
The past decade has seen the firm
enjoy sustained year on year growth,
something that has not happened by
accident, but because of Managing
Director David Hymers’ customer-centric
mantra to ‘not do business at any price’.
Continuous investment, both in
infrastructure – earlier this year, it
invested £100,000 in its UK cartridge
remanufacturing plant to meet the
demand for its services and in people –
Totalpost now employs nearly 40 people
– are two areas where Hymers doesn’t
believe in cutting corners.
“We recently celebrated our 10th
anniversary and during this time, our year
on year growth has averaged between
20 and 50 per cent. I directly attribute
our continued expansion to the fact that
we readily invest for growth, have a first
class offering, great people and a business
that’s built on delivering outstanding
customer service,” he says.
Franking the mail
In April, Ofcom granted Royal Mail
greater freedom in the way it sets
some of its prices, a decision designed
to ensure the ongoing viability of the
universal service. Royal Mail's Universal
Service Obligation (USO) requires it to
collect and deliver letters six days a week
– subsequently the price of a first class
stamp increased to 60p and a second
class stamp to 46p.
“The Royal Mail’s ability to deliver the
universal service to its current standard
is amongst the highest in Europe,” says
Hymers. “And as such the price increase
was not unexpected. However we have
witnessed a significant growth in our
sales of franking machines since.
“The gap between the price of
stamped and franked mail has widened
and dependent on the service, size and
weight of the piece of mail, the cost
differential in favour of franking is now
between 23 and 38 per cent, which has
prompted a number of organisations to
make the switch.”
Flexible pricing
According to Hymers, companies who
mail an average of eight to ten items a
day can save with a franking machine.
“There is a strong business case for
using an entry-level franking machine
today and we have implemented a
new pricing structure that allows first-
time users to test the water.”
A great example of its ‘benevolent
supplier’ ethos, Totalpost now offers a
12-month, low cost, entry-level franking
machine contract; the firm manages
the finance in-house and at the end of
the period, customers can choose to
Totalpost
invested
£100,000 in its
UK Cartridge
remanufacturing
plant...
upgrade, carry on, or simply hand the
machine back.
“Around 10 per cent of our present
signed business is under this new
contract and we expect that this will
increase further next year,” says Hymers.
“Our ethos is to provide a cost
effective and complete service for our
customers which is why we have also
recently launched an all inclusive option.
Customers can choose to pay a set
monthly fee that includes the rental,
consumables and maintenance; this
provides them a simplified procurement
solution, with a single point of contact,
one invoice and reassurance that service
is also included.”
The introduction of this new
model was in part driven by Royal
Mail’s decision to charge VAT on some
services and add on services such as
special delivery, recorded delivery and
packets. This led to franking machine
manufacturers introducing a new range
with built-in Royal Mail approved ‘smart
meters’ which calculated postage
costs, taking into consideration the VAT
increase and printing an appropriate VAT
receipt on services used.
“The new VAT rules meant that many
businesses had to upgrade their franking
machines as older models didn’t have
the technology to calculate the new
costs and without the right machine, it’s
impossible to claim the VAT back, which
can involve companies losing money,”
says Hymers. “When firms use a large
element of VAT’able services we can
provide an all inclusive rental to supply