Coles Solicitors Case Study

A growing firm of solicitors based in North Yorkshire, Coles had been using valuable time making trips to the Post Office to distribute its mail. Now, with the help of Neopost, the company is making significant time and cost savings while increasing the operational efficiency of its business.

Dealing with conveyancing, personal injury, wills and probate work, Coles Solicitors handles a huge variety of legal documentation on a daily basis. In September 2006, Peter Gibson took over Coles and found that all its post was still being sent out with stamps, which involved one of its ten staff having to take time out to visit the local Post Office and queue in line, every day. There was also the administration time involved in preparing cheques for postal payments.

Neopost Products Stood Out

Having recognised the need to enhance Coles' mail handling process, Peter began researching the options. As he explained: "We had received a number of mailings from a variety of franking machine suppliers. However, Neopost products stood out, head and shoulders above the others, in terms of its accessibility, ease of use and cost effectiveness."

Coles initially selected Neopost's AutoStamp solution, a low cost franking machine, ideal for up and coming businesses. As a result of the AutoStamp's success, Coles recently upgraded to a Neopost digital franking machine which offers many of the advanced features found on large franking machines, but in a compact, quiet, office friendly package.

Undelivered Mail Returned Free of Charge

"Since using the franking machine, all of our outgoing mail now carries an external return address (ERA), so that any undelivered mail is returned to us free of charge by the Post Office," explained Peter. "This enables us to accurately keep up-to-date the content of our databases, ensuring that we are not writing to addresses where our clients no longer live and, therefore, saving future mailing costs."

In addition, the savings on postage stamp costs were a significant factor for Coles. As Peter stated: "There is no loss, as there can easily be with stamps, which can get damaged, torn and become unusable."

Extremely High Levels of Support

While delighted with the introduction of its franking machine, Coles is also benefiting from Neopost's extensive support services. Peter concluded, "Neopost has met our specific requirements with extremely high levels of support and accessibility. Indeed, when upgrading to our new machine, the entire process ran smoothly and exactly as Neopost promised. I wouldn't hesitate in recommending Neopost to anyone."