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How Do I Choose the Right Document Inserter for My Office?
In this series of posts, “How do I choose?”, we will help you take a little of the guesswork out of selecting the best print finish product for your shop or office. It’s sometimes difficult to find the right machine to fit your needs when there are so many models.
It’s one thing to upgrade the speed and efficiency of your office by choosing the right folding machine, but you can take invoices and other direct mail to a new level of automation with a document inserter. Because you’ll be investing significantly more on an inserter than you would a simple folding machine, it’s important that you weigh the benefits of each tier of functionality.
More than speed, which varies slightly between models, document inserters are primarily distinguished by the number of items that may be inserted into mailing envelopes. When shopping, you may consider that at this time you only ever insert an invoice, a form letter and a return envelope into 90% of your mailings. In that case, the Formax 6202 is a perfect machine for your operation.
However, you must consider growth in your business, change in operating procedures, and things as simple as the two-page invoices that make up only 10% of your mailings take all afternoon for two staff members. What is the opportunity cost there? What’s the phrase about being as strong as your weakest link? Don’t let a little bit of underused functionality get in the way of what could be a fully automated process.
Then, consider what your office could do with an even more advanced inserter. A new strategy with direct mail may add a significant line of revenue to your budget. What value could you add to your customers? To your employees?
Answer these questions and shop Lloyd’s for the best deal on document inserters. The models we carry all have warranties and are virtually maintenance free.
Why Your Medical Billing Practice Needs a Folding Machine and Inserter
It’s a highly specialized office. The medical billing practice handles all billing for doctors’ offices, freeing them up to continue to practice medicine. But the medical billing office ends up doing a lot of folding bills and stuffing envelopes.
For smaller practices, you may only have 100 bills a day, but larger practices can get a few hundred bills a day. And for smaller practices to become bigger practices, they need to be able to grow through increased production.
This is where automating your mailing process can really help. With a small folder, like the 87M Manual Tabletop Folder or the 207M Manual Tabletop Folder, or even the Formax FD 320 Automatic Tabletop Folder. These folders can take your bills and fold them into C-folds, Z-folds, or any other kind of letter fold. And with the bigger folders, you can hit speeds of 11,000 pieces per hour.
Or you can even take a step up and try the Formax FD 6100 Inserter, which will fold and insert your bills into their envelopes.
Now, by upgrading to an automated solution, you’ve opened up the possibility to take on new clients, and grow as you can handle new and bigger practices.
Why Your Small Utility Company Needs a Folding Machine and Inserter
Off to the east of Indianapolis (our hometown) is a small utility provider. A friend told me he went in there once and found the administrative staff sitting at their desks, folding bills and stuffing envelopes. It turns out they all took one day a month — about 5 hours — to fold and stuff all the bills for the day.
“Why don’t you have a machine that does that?” my friend asked one of the women folding away.
“They cost too much money,” said the woman. “We have to watch our costs.”
My friend was stunned. It’s this short of short-term bureaucratic thinking that ends up wasting money, instead of saving it. Somehow, managers get it in their heads that it’s somehow cost effective to pay employees $12 per hour to fold letters or bills, put them into envelopes, and run them through the postal machine.
Let’s break it down and see why this is just plain wrong.
If you pay 6 staffers $12 per hour to fold bills, that’s $72 per staff hour. And if it takes those staffers 5 hours to fold and stuff all those bills — keeping them in ZIP code order, no less — that’s $360 per month.
But look at the for $10,395. Sure that seems like a lot, but consider this:
The 6202 can fold and insert up to 2,200 pieces per hour, or do all the inserting that six people did in five hours. If one person ran the machine once a month, it would cost that utility $60 per day to run bills.
And save them $300 per month, or $3,600 per year. In three years, they will have paid for the machine. Every year after that, they’re going to save $3,600 per year.
This will end up making their entire office more efficient, freeing up the stuffers to work on other projects around the office.
How Print Shops Can Add Direct Mail to Their Service Offerings
Like your stock portfolio, your print shop needs to be diversified. Not too long ago, customers had to have a large Rolodex of options. If you wanted a book printed you went to one printer; signage, you’d go to somebody else; a specialty die-cut job, you’d shop around; and mailing, well that’s labor intensive — better find a reputable mail house.
Then came along the Wal-Mart way of thinking. More and more customers want their print media the same way they get their groceries and sporting equipment: one stop shopping. Well, we can’t put all the blame on Wally. One reason that the market is forcing this change is the expansion of media in general. If my business is juggling web design companies, social media consultants, videographers, mobile software coders, AND I need something printed — well, I’d like to know that the shop that did such a good job on the company magazine can also handle my direct mail campaign. I don’t want to add another specialty shop to my ‘to do’ list.
Your Shop Could Print AND Mail
Adding direct mail capabilities is as easy as adding the right equipment. Add a letter folder, an inserter and a pressure sealer and you’ll turn a nice little profit while making your customers happy.
Take the Formax 6402 Inserter for example. You can configure your machine to have up to six feeders including BRE’s. It’s fast – 4,000 pieces an hour. It’s easy to run – touchscreen control panel. And, it keeps your job in a neat sequential order so it’s ready for sealing and your outgoing mail bins.
When it comes to sealing, you may want to look into the variety of applications a pressure sensitive project may yield. It’s not just for checks and invoices anymore. Pressure sealed mailers offer an inexpensive direct mail option for your client and diversity for your shops catalog of services. Even mid-volume pressure sealers like the Formax 2030 model can crank out 9,000 pieces an hour. Operation is as simple as loading a stack into the feeder and pressing a button.
So, consider diversifying you portfolio. For a modest investment you’ll see a return that’s a little more reliable than Wall Street.
Formax 6202 AutoSeal® Advanced Office Inserter Series
Your employees will give thanks when you provide the office with a Formax 6202 AutoSeal® Advanced Office Inserter. This flexible product series will make folding and inserting less of a chore. Your Formax 6202 will fold up to five sheets at a time at incredible speeds while keeping everything in line and stuffing newsletters, invoices or checks into outgoing mail with ease.
How is it Used?
Our friends at Formax don’t call this an “advanced” inserter for nothing. You’ll begin your project with the 6202 AutoSeal® Advanced Office Inserter with just a touch of a button. The unique AutoSet TM feature automatically measures paper lengths, envelope sizes and fold lengths. Plus, if you have insert projects that come up again and again, simply store the settings for that job and recall it with ease on the intuitive control panel. You’ll get the standard folds (C, V, Z and Double Parallel) with the Formax Advanced, and fold the 325 sheets in each feeder at 2,200 sheets per hour. It’s even versatile enough to fold and insert stapled sets.
The Formax 6202 AutoSeal® Advanced Office Inserter comes in a couple different configurations. You have a choice of two automatic feeders on the Basic 2 model: one sheet feeder and one insert/BRE feeder with the Advanced 1; or two sheet feeders and one insert/BRE feeder on the AutoSeal® Advance 2. It’s your choice and it’s all in the compact design and reliable operation you’ve come to expect from Formax products.
And How Much Does it Cost?
The Formax 6202 AutoSeal® Advance Office Inserter Series is $10,395 at Lloyd’s. We’ll throw in free shipping and a gift with your purchase.