Neopost's Complete Mailroom Solution Is In A Class By Itself At Bethany College

Bethany College is a highly respected undergraduate institution located in Bethany, West Virginia. The college, with its slogan "Permission to Dream," offers over thirty major fields of study and has earned a reputation for providing students with a strong, well-rounded learning experience.

The Challenge
Bethany College was extremely dissatisfied with their mailroom equipment provider, a large company it had worked with for 30 years. Due to inefficiencies in the department mailing equipment and lack of guidance by its current provider, the mail services were actually on the brink of being permanently outsourced, and the mail center shut down. With the lease ending on its old mail service equipment, Bethany College took the opportunity to find a better solution.

"We were looking for a mailing solution provider that would work with us as a strategic partner, a company with experience in the college arena that would assist us in putting together the best system for our needs," said Jay Eisenhauer, Director of Mail & Duplication Services at Bethany College. "As the university's student body, faculty, and alumni continue to expand, we knew we needed mailing equipment with more options and greater efficiency that could keep up with our ever-expanding mailing requirements to these constituents."

Bethany College's mail center regularly sends out large mailings, from 500 to 10,000 pieces. To accommodate these large projects, which include various correspondences to current students and their parents, direct mail pieces to prospective students, as well as newsletters and fundraising campaigns to alumni, the mail center needed a mail machine with the flexibility to accommodate diverse applications and the efficiency to maintain a high level of output.

The Solution
Eisenhauer and Bethany College found the right mailing solution provider—and partner—in Neopost. Bethany College's new Neopost machines were more flexible and provided better value, since they were tailored specifically to the individual needs of the mail center. The equipment Bethany purchased from Neopost included: the SI-82 high-speed folder/inserter, capable of filling up to 4,200 envelopes an hour; the IJ-110 advanced digital mailing system which operates at up to 250 letters per minute and features mixed mail feeding to accommodate the diverse nature of the College's mailings; the TA-60 double tabber, and a Neopost address printer, the AS-268.

The Outcome
The switchover to the Neopost system resulted in a mail center able to handle all mailing requirements to its various constituents in-house, with reduced cost and no waiting in line at outsourced mail houses. Additionally, Neopost's mail systems provided Bethany College with the opportunity to send out mailings with targeted messages, such as the college's slogan "Permission to Dream," printed on the envelope. The results leave Jay Eisenhauer ecstatic. "With these much more flexible machines, we are able to perform tasks we were never able to do before, and with substantial savings," said Eisenhauer. "We recently started a 6,000-piece mailing at 8AM that was out the door by noon."

Since using the Neopost equipment, the Bethany mailroom has saved over $1,400.00 a month on postage and outsourcing costs, as well as increased productivity and saved time. The TA-60 tabbing machine alone saves the program between one and two cents per piece, as the operation is now entirely self-sufficient, and no longer requires costly outsourcing. "The Neopost equipment and service were huge steps up from our previous equipment, which has made my life and the lives of the mail center staff a whole lot easier," Eisenhauer said. At Bethany College, experiencing that level of efficiency is a real education.