Werth-It Fundraising Blog

Would you like to send first-class letters for less AND make them more likely to be opened?  Here’s how…

There are millions of stamp collectors in the world, but not every stamp is valuable.  Many collectors set aside sheets of stamps that never gain in value.  Their loss is your gain.

You can offer stamp collectors 90 cents on the dollar (10% discount) to buy their old-but-not-valuable stamps.  Most people don’t want to fuss with these because they feel it’s a pain to put multiple stamps on an envelope.   However, people who receive mail will be intrigued by these multiple stamps, enough to open the envelope.

For example, first-class letter postage in America is 41 cents.  I have some 10 cent DW Griffith stamps, left over from the days when a ten cent stamp was enough to mail a letter.  (And the post office said service would *improve* when mail went from 8 cents to 10 cents, but that’s a different story.)  If you got a letter from me with five stamps on it, wouldn’t you be curious enough to open it?

While non-profits and corporations can mail at discounted rates, that works only if the letter is sent in bulk and not personalized.  There’s enough mail going out of your office that it would be worth it to you (werth-it, get it?) to save some money.  Right now, I’m looking at a budget for a small organization that spent $6,200 last year on postage.  If they could have saved $620, would they have found something better to spend it on?  You bet.  It’s even better that people are more likely to open letters from you.

To buy stamps at a discount, check the Linn’s stamp catalog (www.amosadvantage.com), call local stamp dealers, or just put an ad on www.craigslist.com.  This tip works worldwide.