|
Issue 27
|
Massive magazine mailing
Published Date: October, 2004
Australia’s most widely distributed magazine is NRMA Motoring and Services’ The Open Road. Once every two months it is sent to around 1.6 million members. In this article Priority explores the planning, data management, logistics and deliver |
|
The reputation of Australians as voracious readers of magazines is clearly illustrated among the members of New South Wales road services giant NRMA.
Currently around 1.61 million members receive a free copy of The Open Road, making it the most widely distributed magazine in the country. In fact, eight out of every ten households in NSW receive a copy.
The magazine has a history as long as the NRMA itself, beginning life 85 years ago as a newspaper for motoring enthusiasts.
Today, The Open Road is both a motoring and a lifestyle magazine, containing motoring news and reviews as well as articles on travel and road safety, along with membership benefits information, competitions and more.
Such is its popularity that members practically ”live and breath“ the publication, according to The Open Road’s business manager, Jo McIntyre. A recent competition in The Open Road attracted 769,000 mailed responses, another strong testament to the readership of the magazine.
Jo heads up the team responsible for producing the magazine. She has also been working closely over the last few years with Scott Wightman, Australia Post Account Executive, to continually refine the magazine’s delivery.
“We’ve been very pleased with the improvements Post has provided for the delivery of The Open Road,” she says. “The use of Post’s data services and keeping the magazine within pre-set weight brackets, to receive the best postage rate possible, have both definitely saved us time and money.”
According to Scott the delivery of The Open Road is a good example of Post’s ability to work with a customer to get better results out of the lodgement acceptance, transport and delivery process.
One example of this is the magazine's use of Post's Delivery Point Indentifier (DPID). DPIDs are unique indentification numbers provided for more than nine million Australian addresses.
”Because each NRMA member has a DPID attached to their record this provides a simple and privacy-compliant way for us to sort the data,“ says Scott. By sorting the member data, NRMA‘s printing and mail fulfilment company, PMP, is able to stage both the printing and the binding to meet the pre-determined delivery centre order.
This means that the magazines are bundled into Australia Post delivery centre order and transported directly to each centre, thus bypassing sorting equipment.
“PMP is also able to create sequenced bundles of the magazines, which reduces the amount of manual sorting required by posties,” says Scott.
The delivery centre order has been refined over time to provide the best solution based on the geographic location and concentration of members.
With almost 50 per cent of its members located in country areas, the focus on providing effective delivery to these areas is critical for NRMA. Any delivery issues are handled directly by the corporate account team, which liaises directly with the delivery centre and the relevant postie if required.
“Delivery concerns among members are virtually zero,” says Scott. “And this is testament to the effort and concern that all our staff place on The Open Road.” Post’s delivery of The Open Road in country areas has been a commendable performance, according to Jo.
“The Open Road lodgement is initially forecast on our internal advance warning system which informs relevant staff throughout Post when the magazines will be lodged in the network. This is followed up immediately before the start of lodgements with e-mail communication to every delivery centre in country areas, allowing these facilities to plan staffing and their workload around the time when the magazine is expected to arrive,” Scott says.
Keeping a constant watch on the magazine’s weight has also ensured that NRMA’s costs are controlled.
“Sometimes publishers forget that, by adding a few extra pages or one extra insert, they can take the magazine into another weight bracket and incur extra costs,” explains Scott.
The Open Road’s annual statistics
• 1.61 million members receive the magazine
• 50 per cent of members are located in country areas
• Over nine million magazines are delivered in a year
• Post‘s trucks travel 600,000 kilometres each year.
|
PLANNING, LOGISTICS AND DELIVERY FOR THE OPEN ROAD
Production schedule
The Open Road’s annual production schedule is entered into Post’s advance warning system. This assists with large lodgement forecasts and planning within the transport and delivery networks.
Data
For each issue, The Open Road’s membership data is processed, providing information on bundling size, article sequence and delivery centre order.
Production
Printing and mail fulfilment company PMP prints and wraps the magazine and applies the sort and bundle sizing. Magazines are brick-stacked and faced up correctly in Post’s unit load devices (ULDs) to assist with unpacking at the delivery centres.
Acceptance
A Post staff member on-site at PMP faxes copies of lodgement summary information to Post for reconciliation and monitoring. This information is consolidated into one invoice for the entire lodgement.
Information
Advance warnings are sent out to all Australia Post delivery centres, providing volume and date forecasts immediately before the magazine is lodged.
Transport
Magazines are sent to Australia Post’s Sydney West Letters Facility in Strathfield for haulage to all points in NSW.
Transport
Magazines are sent to Australia Post’s Sydney West Letters Facility in Strathfield for haulage to all points in NSW.
Account Management
A team from Australia Post’s National Corporate Accounts team oversees the entire process for The Open Road.
Returns
Returns of The Open Road are handled by Australia Post’s Sydney City Delivery Centre with NRMA’s call centre staff updating customer details.
Invoicing
NRMA receives one consolidated invoice for outbound mail, making reconciliation easy.
|
Published Date: October, 2004
|
