Case Study: Point Defiance Zoo, The Zoo Society
Conversion of zoo membership card program to a greener process.
Old Process: 16,500 members x 10 years = 165,000 mailings
The Zoo Society printed membership cards in-house on 10 mil plastic cards affixed to a 14” virgin carrier. The printed card/carrier was inserted by staff into a #10 regular envelope – addressed, metered and mailed via 1st Class Postage. There are 16,500 members and each member received new cards every year. The average membership lifespan is between 5 to 10 years.
New Process: In the first year, each member receives a new plastic card. Depending on the length of membership, the card may be used for the entire membership lifespan.
The new process switched cards to a credit-card weight 30mil plastic card; fulfillment was sourced to Trio Group NW. A data file is uploaded to our facility where the cards are imaged and mailed. Because the cards are now 30mil, each member will keep the cards for the duration of their membership – up to 10 years on average. If a membership category or other change occurs then new cards are issued. Currently there is a 65% membership renewal rate. Two 30mil plastic cards are affixed to an FSC-certified, 100% post-consumer fiber 11” carrier instead of a 14” carrier on virgin stock. The smaller carrier is then folded into a #10 standard window envelope and mailed in batches from the fulfillment site.
Process Improvement Estimates
If 65% of members renew each year, 11,000 members will not require a new card.
Approximately 5,000 new/changed memberships occur each year. Over an average 10-year membership lifecycle, 50,000 cards will be printed.
Under the new process, there will be 61,000+ mailings over 10 years, yielding a savings of 104,000 mailings versus the original process of mailing a new card to each of 16,500 members every year for 10 years.
Bundled mailing costs on average $1.25 per piece including postage for either scenario. The estimated overall savings is over $103,000 plus staff labor for a ten year period.