Neopost Gets High Grades at University of Portland

At the University of Portland in Oregon, a top ten regional university according to U.S. News and World Report, Neopost, the worldwide provider of mailing, addressing, document handling and logistics systems, is earning high marks. Each day bags and bags of important mail flow in and out of University’s mail center. To efficiently handle all of the mail center’s activity, the University uses Neopost’s advanced mailing machine and logistics system.

Over 3,200 full-time students and 500 graduate and part-time students at the University of Portland are all eager to stay in contact with family and friends. As a result, important packages, documents, invoices and letters are sent out daily by the school’s faculty and administrative staff. Gayle Alderman is supervisor of the university’s mail center and switchboard. Recently she learned a great deal about the advantage of working with the industry’s latest offering of mailing and shipping systems.

“We usually have on the average of 2 trays of first class mail every day,” Alderman says, “which translates to anywhere from 600 to 1500 pieces. Plus there are about 10 bins a day of flats that we handle, each bin with about 60 pieces. Like most universities, we handle a substantial volume of mail.”

The University of Portland called upon Key Business Products, an authorized Neopost dealer, to help find a solution to streamline the mail center’s flurry of activity. After evaluating the University’s needs, Roland Levesque, owner of Key Business Products, recommended Neopost’s advanced mailing machine and logistics system to meet the University’s requirements.

“As with most universities, the ability to record and track postage expenditures is important, especially with limited budgets. Also, most departments in an educational setting are multi-functional, so it’s important to be able to perform activities simultaneously with equipment that can be seen and not heard,” explains Levesque.

A mailing system gets extra credit.
Neopost’s flagship mailing product, the IJ105 mailing system, is the solution that Alderman credits with delivering speed and reliability to the University of Portland’s high-volume mail center. The IJ105 provides an intelligent, in-motion mail processing system that dynamically weighs mixed mail and packages.

“I think the IJ105 feature that I like the best is the in-motion feature, because with that capability we never have to stop and weigh materials,” Alderman relates. “The system weighs them in motion and takes care of applying the postage. It definitely makes my department more productive.”

The IJ105 features a user-friendly touchscreen interface, and Alderman greatly appreciates the system’s intuitive nature and ease of use, especially given her constantly fluctuating staff.

“In addition to my 3 full-time employees, we enlist the help of students; I have about eight students each semester working with me at varying times,” she explains. “I love the fact that the IJ105 is simple enough so that individuals with minimal training can run it, and I don’t have to worry about mistakes.”

The IJ105 goes about its work quietly, and Alderman welcomes the change. Unlike the past system, the IJ105 allows for the simultaneous operation of both the switchboard and mail center.

Alderman recalls, “With our previous system, there were times when I couldn’t hear myself think, never mind hearing the many domestic and overseas calls that were coming through our switchboard. We would sometimes have to stop running the machine to hear calls. The Neopost mailing system is quiet – and stress-free.”

In the past, Alderman also had problems with postage that smudged when processing multiple pieces. “We are saving money with the IJ105, because we don’t have the ruined postage we had with our old machine. This is really important for a university with a tight budget like ours. And the customizable postage meter imprints are also very attractive. With the option to choose from a variety of images, this feature has become quite popular with the different departments.”

A package shipping system makes the Dean’s List.
In addition to the IJ105, the University of Portland is also utilizing Neopost’s FriendShip® PS630 Package Shipping System. This advanced pc-based, multi-carrier compliant shipping software solution can control just about every aspect of a shipping department. With just a keystroke, the FriendShip PS system weighs a package, identifies the best carrier rate for a desired service, calculates shipping & handling charges, generates a carrier package identification/tracking number, prints a compliant shipping label, prints the transaction onto a summary report, stores the data in a permanent database and transmits PLD manifest information electronically to the carrier. It’s a solution designed to help managers make better-informed shipping decisions, automate the shipping process and provide easily accessible, more accurate accounting reports. When interfaced to a Neopost mail machine, FriendShip can consolidate, then report both postage and shipping charges to validated department codes or pre-established budgets.

“The FriendShip PS630 is actually our second FriendShip series product,” Alderman says, “and I love it. It is simple, easy-to-use, and it provides really clean, crisp reports. So there’s no fussing about how much postage should be or has been charged to each department.”

Alderman is now able to timely and accurately charge back all of the school’s postage and shipping charges to each department on a monthly basis. This pleases administrators of each department because they now are able to monitor where their budget money is going. The FriendShip system has also been warmly welcomed by the University’s Admissions department, who has been able to more accurately determine the cost-per-individual of sending out admissions materials to prospective students.

Another key selling point of the FriendShip PS630 system is its ability to automate the mail center’s service window. Alderman’s department had formerly been using the traditional method of manually weighing, pricing and recording all packages. By moving to a mailing system with a built-in accounting capability, outgoing student packages are now automatically processed and tracked – which makes Alderman’s job much easier.

Alderman is now able to process multiple mail pieces, record and track postage expenditures, make better-informed shipping decisions and automate the entire shipping process, all while answering calls at the switchboard, with the assistance of a mailing and shipping system from Neopost.

“Our customers value the quality and ease-of-use that comes with Neopost systems, both which helped to increase productivity while reducing costs at the university’s mail center,” explains Levesque.

The University of Portland is a school filled with individuals who are driven to excel. But if you ask Alderman, she’ll likely tell you that two of the school’s top performers can be found working away processing mail at her mail center.

She concludes, “I’d recommend the Neopost products to any university mail center. They are truly ideal solutions for a college setting.”