MailRoom ToolKit

University of Washington Admissions Department

The University of Washington Admissions Department mails approximately 40,000 freshman admission packets every year. 30,000 additional packets are sent to students interested in transferring to the UW. The Admissions department calculates that in 1997 they spent about $8,000 per month on first class postage, almost $100,000 a year!

John Sweeny, the Assistant Director of Admissions at the University of Washington, came to Satori Software wondering, “Is it really necessary to be spending $100,000 a year, mailing packets to students?” He was concerned about wasting postage on bad addresses and the lack of uniformity on the outgoing packets. “The students often give incorrect addresses over the telephone,” Mr. Sweeny explained. “We receive information requests by mail, email, and from student walk-ins. Our system has no means of verifying the addresses. The staff is hand writing the addresses directly on the information packets and mailing them out first class, piece by piece, as they take requests. Packets are mailed to wrong addresses frequently, wasting valuable time and money.”

Satori Software has changed the way the University of Washington Admissions Department mails to students since meeting John Sweeny. The installation of six seats of MailRoom ToolKit enables the office staff to easily verify and correct addresses over the telephone; then immediately enter the correct information in their MS Access database. The packets are mailed with the correct address and nine-digit ZIP code printed on uniform, easy-to-print labels.

Since MailRoom ToolKit Office components include address correction and postal presorting, those functions can easily be added to Microsoft Office applications. Completely compatible with the Admissions department’s Microsoft Access database, this new mailroom manager was installed at the department in early February 1998, the same day their 800 piece recruitment mailing was scheduled for mailing. The department saved enough money putting together that first mailing to pay for half of their investment in MailRoom ToolKit.

“The savings are incredible,” says John Sweeney, “the software checks the addresses before they are entered in the database; all the labels are uniform. Satori Software has helped us eliminate a big mailing headache here at the Admissions Department.”

The savings are incredible. The heavier freshman admission packet was mailed out first class at $1.70 per packet; transfer packets mailed first class at about 56 cents per packet. Now, with MailRoom ToolKit Office CASS processing, all packets qualify for automated flat rates, between 18.9 and 27.7 cents per piece. The Admissions department predicts spending about $16,500 this year on postage. That's a total savings of $83,500.

What does the University of Washington’s Admissions department have to say about Satori Software? “We are delighted to have hooked up with Satori. Their service is excellent. We got so much more than we ever expected.”