Frequently Asked Questions

If you are thinking about outsourcing the printing, processing, and mailing of your invoices and statements, you probably have a few questions about how it works. Below, we’ve provided the answers to the most common questions we receive from new clients, from how we do business to exactly what kinds of services we offer. We strive to help our clients in every way possible: we want the answer to the majority of your questions to be, “Of course we can!” and “Not a problem!”. Please let us know if we can add any other FAQs.

What services do you offer?

It’s simple: we print, process, and mail documents for businesses and organizations. Most of our clients use our services to print, process, and mail:

• Statements and invoices.
• Personalized letters.
• Mail merge letters.
• Collection letters.
• Tax notices and bills.
• Jury questionnaires and notices.
• Rental statements.
• Utility Bills.
• Loan coupons.
• QuickBook statements.
• Newsletters, inserts, and fliers.

The absolute best way to find out if we can help you with your printing, processing and mailing job is to contact us and ask.

How fast can we get up and running with Towne Mailer?

That is entirely up to you. After you have contacted us, discussed pricing, and decided to give us a try, we will ask you to upload an actual file for us to test – this process happens without charge and without obligation, of course. After you approve your sample, it is up to you to give us the okay to start printing, processing, and mailing. Clients who respond quickly to each of these steps can have a job rolling in a matter of days. Others need a few days, weeks, or months to prepare. You set your own pace.

How quickly can you print, process and mail our documents?

All files we receive have a fast turnaround time to ensure there are no delays. Files received by 8 a.m. MST are often even printed, processed and mailed on the same business day.

Will my company save time and money by outsourcing our printing, processing, and mailing?

Yes, all of our clients save time and money by outsourcing their printing, processing, and mailing needs. That’s because we specialize in what we do and have spent years perfecting the process from start to finish. The simple truth is that we have the knowledge, machinery, specialized staff, and inventory to mail your invoices and statements more efficiently than you do. By using experts and specialists, you are not only making the most efficient choice for your business, you are also freeing up your own staff to do more important higher-level and day-to-day tasks.

To learn specifically how much time and money some of our clients save, read our case studies.

What types of businesses benefit from your services?

We have worked with dozens of types of businesses over the years and can help anyone who needs to regularly mail documents to their customers, such as bills, invoices, statements, newsletters, and fliers. More specifically, we have worked with the following types of businesses and organizations:

• Homeowners and condominium associations.
• Hospitals, clinics, labs, medical centers and medical offices.
• Property management companies.
• Rental agencies – property, equipment and consumer goods.
• Utility providers (water, electric, telephone, etc.).
• Internet service providers.
• Governmental agencies: state, county, city or any other municipal type or department.
• Jury questionnaires and notices.
• Newspapers, radio stations, and other media outlets.
• Banks, credit unions and loan companies.
• Financial companies and investment companies.
• Technology companies.
• Hardware stores.
• Pool and landscaping maintenance companies.
• Dry cleaners.
• Non-profits.
• Website developers.

What geographic area do you serve?

Although we are based in Missoula, Montana, we serve clients all over the United States, as far away as Alaska and Hawaii. As long as you are using the U.S. mail system, geography is not an issue or a limitation. We are a mail processing center, and as such, your mail will travel very quickly to its destination because it is automated and presorted.

I’ve heard that outsourcing is bad – is that true?

Outsourcing overseas, in certain circumstances, could take jobs away from people in the United States or compromise the quality of your products or services. However, you do not have to worry about either issue when outsourcing your mailings with Towne Mailer. Since we are located in the United States, the jobs related to your mail processing stay in the country. And since we specialize in printing, mailing, and processing, we can actually do a faster, better, and more accurate job than most businesses can do in-house. As we like to say: “Do what you do best – outsource the rest!”

We don’t like the way our statements look. Can you help us?

Of course we can! The software we use to print, process and mail your invoices and statements permits us to take the data you have uploaded to us and move it around to create a more pleasing, clearer, and more informative format. We can even incorporate your logo into your statements in a variety of ways. We can work with most any format, although we can only make limited changes to PDF files.

We don’t have thousands of pieces of mail processed each month. Do you have a minimum volume requirement?

Not a problem! The minimum volume that makes the best economic sense to both Towne Mailer and our client is 200 pieces per month. We’ve done the math, and anything less than 200 pieces per month wouldn’t benefit either party. Our current clients upload between 200 to 40,000 statements, invoices, and letters per month – an amount that allows us to offer exceptional, personalized customer service and very fast response times that larger outsource providers often cannot give to smaller clients.

We are changing our software. Will this affect our processing, printing, and mailing?

Not a problem! If you give us enough time to prepare, we will even help you test your new software. Some of our clients going through software changes find it helpful to run their statements and invoices in the both the old and new software versions to ensure a smooth transition. We are happy to help you through the change and to ensure that your statements and mailings aren’t affected by your updates in any way – all you need do is to let us know what is happening and when.

We need to include a message on only some of our invoices or statements. Can you do that?

Of course we can! All you need to do is contact us several days before we print, process and mail your invoices and statements. Let us know the message you want to selectively include as well as which pieces of mail you would like to include it on. Finally, let us know what data code we need to look at to trigger the message. If you want to make sure that your message is in the right place and on the right pieces of mail, just preview your documents online before you approve them to be printed and processed.

Do we need to sign a contact with you?

Not necessarily. We have a simple two-page agreement that outlines the responsibilities of both parties and provides for annual renewal unless service is terminated. Unlike many other outsource providers, we do not require a formal agreement. Our philosophy is that if we do not provide a client with excellent service, no written contract can bind the parties to one another.

Can you incorporate our logo into our statements and mailings?

Yep! We can insert your logo at the top of your document, as a screen in the body of the form, or both. We believe that your logo is a great marketing tool that can help identify you, build your brand, and make your documents look great. If you’d like to add your logo to your statements, invoices, or mailings, we provide you with instructions and guidance as well as assist you with layout.

We only take certain credit cards from our customers. Can you help us make that clear on our statements?

Of course we can! Just let us know which credit cards you take and we will include the appropriate logos when we print your statements or invoices. If you add or delete a card your business accepts, call or email us and we will make the change on the next run.

Can you include a newsletter, insert, or flier in with our statement?

You bet! Just upload the content and we can print it here – in black and white or in color. All we need is a little advanced notice. We can also include announcements, promotional advertising or whatever else you’d like. If you’d like to supply the insert yourself, just send it to us in time to include it in the appropriate statement mailing. Also, if we cannot print the project in-house, we can partner with several area printers who can help you – and we do not tack on a charge to the price.

How often can we send you files?

You can send us files daily, weekly, semimonthly, monthly – whenever you’d like and whatever works best for your business. And you can upload files to us 24 hours a day, seven days a week – our servers do not sleep!

How do I know my statements were sent out?

After you upload your statements to our server, you will receive immediate confirmation that your file has been received. During the printing and mailing process, we will send you a variety of other forms and reports that give you a detailed listing of what was we printed, what we processed, and what we mailed, including a list of bad addresses.

Can I see the invoices before they are mailed?

If you want! We will post the statements, invoices or letters on the web so that only you can see and review them. You may choose whether we can print, process, and mail before you review the documents.

I have a question that you didn’t answer on this page!

Not a problem! Call us today at (877) 882-6245 to speak to one of our team members and get an answer to our questions. Alternatively, you can send us a quick email and we will get back to you as soon as possible.