Human Arc is a recognized leader in government program eligibility enrollment and reimbursement services for hospital and health plans. Human Arc helps patients and plan members with low or no income, those who are aged as well as those with disabilities enroll in government-funded assistance programs and realize quality-of-life improvements. With rising costs of inbound and outbound direct mail across three business units, they began a top-down business review to improve efficiencies and reduce outreach expenses. What Human Arc never expected, however, was the whopping refund they would receive thanks to information uncovered from the C.TRAC Direct audit.
“When Human Arc signed on with C.TRAC to conduct an audit, we had no idea of the material findings they would eventually uncover. Had it not been for C.TRAC Direct, we would likely still be overpaying for our business reply mail and we never would have received such a large refund owed to us by the United States Postal Service.” – Glen Lair, Human Arc CFO
C.TRAC Direct was engaged to perform a Direct Mail (DM) Audit. The audit included an analysis of data flow, mail piece design, internal and out-sourced print fulfillment and postal operations, out-bound and in-bound mail design and postage expense, returned mail and other related best practices.
The direct mail audit first uncovered areas for improvement in mail piece design: one that would alter the format of both out-bound and in-bound mail to reduce postage by more than 40% on those pieces, and the second to resolve damaged in-bound reply mail.
Additional savings were found with recommendations to internalize some outsourced print and mail operations, and further integrate presort services. The overall impact is nearly a 10% reduction in outbound postage for the service unit.
The greatest emphasis was placed on analyzing Business Reply Mail design, volumes and permits. A recommended design change resulted in a 20% reduction in reply mail postage. Most significantly, while Human Arc utilized the correct Reply permit, inconsistencies and improper handling of their Reply Mail over several years resulted in inaccurate and excess postage charges from the USPS, costing Human Arc over $13,000 per month.
Working with local USPS staff, the audit team and Human Arc identified the issues causing the inconsistent, excessive and inaccurate Business Reply mail charges. On behalf of Human Arc, C.TRAC Direct filed three refund requests, with subsequent appeals that ultimately resulted in a refund of two years of postage fees in excess of $165,000.
Curious to see if your company is spending too much on inaccurate and excessive postage charges? Contact us to get started on a direct mail audit.
