Royal mail leaflet drops?

[Dandig]

I have just found out about leaflet drops with the royal mail they quoted £500 for delivery of 12,800 leaflets, what are your opinions on this? I am thinking of doing it to promote my skip and digger / landscape business hoping to generate a bit of work! I think it would be a good idea after christmas!!

 

[Connections_Media]

I have just found out about leaflet drops with the royal mail they quoted £500 for delivery of 12,800 leaflets, what are your opinions on this? I am thinking of doing it to promote my skip and digger / landscape business hoping to generate a bit of work! I think it would be a good idea after christmas!!

I deal in leaflet distribution in Birmingham and that works out at £26/1000 which isn't too bad, But what you have to think about is how many other leaflets will be going through the door with yours aswell.

 

[sellickbhoy]

i wouldn't recommend using the Royal Mail service

several times a week i get a big bundle of flyers/leaflets pushed through the door with my important mail

it invariably goes straight through the shredder and onto the compost heap

try and look for a solus service - but if you think about it, you can probably deliver 100 per hour on foot. (big posh houses with long drives will reduce that number, blocks of flats will increase that number)

minimum wage is £5.8 or so an hour, so if you see services at under £58 per thousand, you have to wonder if they'll actually be getting delivered

Of course, i'd be interested to hear how companies CAN do it for less that that sort of rate. I don't wish to imply that they are conning you or providing a poor service.

Just intersted in how it's done.

 

[seanstevens]

my old man just retired (or is that was retired) from the RM and says the charge of 4 or 5p per leaflet is normal for them. He now competes with them in the home town of Windsor

Agree with the above, that if the RM do if for you it loses a little impact as it drops through the door with other letters. People then pay less attention to the leaflet.

If you get an leaflet company to do if for you then it hits at a different time during the day and has more chance of being looked at.

Good luck.

 

[Connections_Media]

Yeah I agree with all above...We are based in Birmingham and we charge £40/1000 any less than that we would end up paying to distribute a companies material for them. Always be careful with this as I hear so many horror stories about companies charging like £25/1000 and then the company really expects their leaflets to be delivered. The way I see it is if you pay peanuts your going to get monkies.

 

[virtuallysorted]

I've done Royal Mail door drops - both as with post and as solus campaigns. It is very reasonable and it is quite reliable in terms of delivery etc. What is NOT easy though is dealing with Royal Mail.

They are just swines - they question everything from the size of the bundles of your flyers to what colours you use and how they are stacked on the pallets. You can never actually speak to anyone. You spend ages trying to chase people down by phone to get a definitive answer, then they insist you were given the wrong information from their own website. I'd recommend paying a bit extra and using a distribution company - even if they actually use Royal Mail it'll mean you don't have to deal with them.

 

[elainewhite]

A leaflet drop needs to be repeated 3 times in the same area before people will take notice of it. Local advertising magazines often offer this service, eg Local Link in York.
Solus companies will often let you choose exactly which roads you want the leaflets delivered to. No point in delivering to blocks of flats with no gardens.

 

[sherco]

I do my own leaflet drops then i can target the properties i want to aim my business at.

 

[Richie N]

I wouldn't recommend Royal Mail either, they can't even get delivering post right these days, let alone leaflets.
Post is always going missing and wouldn't rely on their delivery services for your business.

 

[Alcsl]

I'd say do a solo drop with a reputable leaflet distribution company, as others have pointed out with RM you get loads of other leaflets in the same bundle, and I do the same - straight into the recycle bin.

 

[Hedgie]

I deal in leaflet distribution in Birmingham and that works out at £26/1000 which isn't too bad, But what you have to think about is how many other leaflets will be going through the door with yours aswell.

No, it works out at £38 per 1000

 

[Hedgie]

i wouldn't recommend using the Royal Mail service

several times a week i get a big bundle of flyers/leaflets pushed through the door with my important mail

it invariably goes straight through the shredder and onto the compost heap

try and look for a solus service - but if you think about it, you can probably deliver 100 per hour on foot. (big posh houses with long drives will reduce that number, blocks of flats will increase that number)

minimum wage is £5.8 or so an hour, so if you see services at under £58 per thousand, you have to wonder if they'll actually be getting delivered

Of course, i'd be interested to hear how companies CAN do it for less that that sort of rate. I don't wish to imply that they are conning you or providing a poor service.

Just intersted in how it's done.

We charge £35 per 1000 solus but then our overheads are low and YES we do deliver

 

[Hedgie]

Yeah I agree with all above...We are based in Birmingham and we charge £40/1000 any less than that we would end up paying to distribute a companies material for them. Always be careful with this as I hear so many horror stories about companies charging like £25/1000 and then the company really expects their leaflets to be delivered. The way I see it is if you pay peanuts your going to get monkies.

I'm off to buy some bananas then

 

[Connections_Media]

No, it works out at £38 per 1000

I done the calculation wrong ..my bad

 

[patientlady]

Where does your business usually come from? Is it b2b or domestic or is this style of business just random? I just think a random 13000 leaflet drop seems dare I say a cop out and a waste of £500 plus printing costs. How about approaching all the local building firms and introducing yourself and giving them a business rate. Seeing your skips outside and signs for landscaping will be advertising in itself...

 

[Hedgie]

I done the calculation wrong ..my bad

Happens to us all

 

[Connections_Media]

£38/1000 for them to be distributed with all sorts is quite expensive

 

[Hedgie]

£38/1000 for them to be distributed with all sorts is quite expensive

Yes and considering they have the staff and infrastructure in place already to deliver them with little extra effort then it seems high.

We deliver Solus for £35 per 1000 and £25 for shared.

 

[Joe E]

We deliver Solus for £35 per 1000 and £25 for shared.

Really! the average amount for a person to deliver per day ranges from 500-1000 depending on area and target market! a working day is usually between 7-9 hours so are you really saying you deliver for less than the minimum wage???

I think anyone/company who says they deliver Solus for less than £60 per 1000 is either not delivering or delivering very little plus they have not got a viable sustainable business.
It's all very well saying that overheads are low which is obviously great in itself however that does not give you a licence to pay less than the min wage to staff to do the work.
The only explanation I can see would be is the company owner is delivering by themselves and not using staff, but to me that's no more than just being a busy fool.

In terms of the shared option to make that viable you got be looking at a least 3 or more to be able pay the staff properly plus make some money for the company.
Personally I think a shared option gives clients a disservice! it's been proven by diluting distribution the responses rates drop with a varying degrees depending on how well it was targetted and how good the copy was.
I always always view everything from my clients pov and thier target market pov and work to marry our ethics and our service into those views and requirements.

 

[seanstevens]

My old man delivers 1000 for £40 in the Windsor area. He does it cheaply because he is a retired postal worker and it is something he can do that is stress free and keeps him busy. He knows the streets of his town better than most delivery companies having been involved in helping to set up postal codes over the years. He can even talk to people who want leaflets delivered in the area and advise on the areas with the biggest population of kids, older people etc.

Is he busy, Yes
Is he a fool, No

 

[Joe E]

Appreciated that an independent worker like your dad can make it pay as he obviously has got extensive local knowledge and has time to do a good job. What I was saying is that is Distribution company with FT/PT staff cannot possibly charge so low for a Solus Delivery and firstly pay the staff correctly & legally secondly make any money therefore leading to a very poor service for thier clients there is also the matter of insurance which has to be factored in at some point as well

 

[Hedgie]

Really! the average amount for a person to deliver per day ranges from 500-1000 depending on area and target market! a working day is usually between 7-9 hours so are you really saying you deliver for less than the minimum wage???

I think anyone/company who says they deliver Solus for less than £60 per 1000 is either not delivering or delivering very little plus they have not got a viable sustainable business.
It's all very well saying that overheads are low which is obviously great in itself however that does not give you a licence to pay less than the min wage to staff to do the work.
The only explanation I can see would be is the company owner is delivering by themselves and not using staff, but to me that's no more than just being a busy fool.

In terms of the shared option to make that viable you got be looking at a least 3 or more to be able pay the staff properly plus make some money for the company.
Personally I think a shared option gives clients a disservice! it's been proven by diluting distribution the responses rates drop with a varying degrees depending on how well it was targetted and how good the copy was.
I always always view everything from my clients pov and thier target market pov and work to marry our ethics and our service into those views and requirements.

Granted I will be reviewing the Solus pricing as I take your point that it is low in comparision to the majority of leaflets companies and I will probably increase this to £55 from January. At present the Solus is a bit of a lost leader to gain client trust etc. The shared option will depend on the number of other leaflets being delivered at the same time so I may put a staggered pricing structure in place for this.

As for the minimum wage etc, a the business is a fledgling business I only use part time labour along with myself to deliver. As the business builds up then yes I will review the use of full time or part time staff and the wage structure but I will never pay below minimum wage.

The leaflet distribuiton is only part of the business structure, we operate a cycle courier, florist delivery and parcel delivery service as well