About three minutes ago I dropped off the last eight letters in a 175-letter mailing that I started before Christmas. As a freelance copywriter, I’ve completed several letter mailings like this, and they really are a pain.

For this mailing, I mailmerged a two-page letter, then added two little third-page flyers, one as a quick reference to the action items in the letter, “Next Steps with Avenue Z.” The other is an advertisement for a web seminar I’m putting on later this month on eNewsletters.

Time and Budget:

Printing out mailmerge
Time: Probably a total of 10 hours of monitoring and waiting. Mailmerges and heavy graphics really tie up computer memory when you print.
Budget: What a mess! I started off with really bright graphics, and I ate through ink. Duh! I spent at least $70 in ink, plus paper, hassle, etc. And then there were envelopes and labels, so add another $10 at least.

Labor for assembly
Time: I knew this would be a real time sucker, so I ended up hiring someone from craigslist. I also spent at least 5 hours stuffing envelopes, cutting flyers into thirds and assembling things myself.
Budget: One aspiring pothead (”If I only had the money,” he pined.), $10/hour, five hours, plus two beers.

Other costs
Stamps:  $71.75
Paper Cutter:  $40

Estimated overall cost:               $250 (including employee’s labor and beer)

Estimated Avenue Z labor:        15 hours

Statistics tell us that direct mail response rates hover between 1-2 percent, with some claiming 4 percent. Since these are actual letters to actual people, I’m hoping for 5 percent, which means  perhaps 8.75 people might do something after they get my letter.