Postal operators around the globe are faced with a number of universal challenges, e.g., declining letter volumes and a boom in the number of parcels driven by e-commerce etc. In relation to these challenges, it is crucial to protect and ensure revenue, and to adapt to an increasingly digital landscape.

Source: Birger Morken / Posten Norge AS

Revenue Protection

Postal parcels and letters are pre-paid, leaving the postal operator with a risk of losing revenue if the shipment is larger, heavier, or otherwise does not correspond to the pre-paid postage.

With hundreds of millions of shipments in transit, and a substantial percentage of these having insufficient postage, postal operators face the risk of losing millions on insufficient postage.

IHPostal provides a revenue protection system to enable postal operators to recover and protect revenue lost due to insufficient postage. The system captures images, dimensions, weight, and other relevant data of the mail items to ensure that senders of mail items with insufficient postage are invoiced. The system is easily integrated with no effect on mail delivery, and the system has enabled Post Danmark to recover and protect revenue.

All postal operators risk to lose revenue through mail items with insufficient postage, PostNord Denmark has really got to grips with the challenge, using IHPostal’s revenue recovery solution. We have been using the system for more than a decade.

PostNord Denmark

Post Danmark, part of the PostNord Group, is responsible for the postal service in Denmark with approx. 6,200 employees and a turnover of DKK 4,863 mio., Post Danmark distributed 193 mio. letter items in 2019.

By implementing the IHPostal Revenue Protection System, Postal Organisations will improve revenue and quality and the company’s profit margin will be improved.

Furthermore the solution will have a preventive effect, as customers will realise that letters with no postage or inadequate postage will be dealt with. In the future they will want to make sure that the right postage due is paid fully up front.

See the article Leak Proofing in the magazine Postal Technology International (or get the article as a PDF-file).

5 steps to Revenue Protection

Production Centre

During production, letters with insufficient postage are found and taken to a recording station, where weight and dimensions are measured and the front and back of the shipment are photographed. These informations, are automatically stored in a central database. Our revenue recovery system operates through either manually operated or semi automated stationary recording stations.

Registration Centre

In the registration centre, each recording is “registered” by adding postage and addressing information from the photographs, enabling the system to invoice customers for insufficient postage plus an administration fee. Invoices are automatically generated and sent to a printing facility.

Customer Service

The PS System records and stores all the invoice data until payment is received. If sender (the recipient of the invoice) denies having sent a letter with insufficient postage, the photo of the letter in question is easily retrieved from the database and can be printed as documentation in support of an enquiry or a past due letter.

Accounting

The system interfaces with the accounting department of the postal service which normally handles payments, past due letters, etc.

Management

The system generates management information about the users of the system and their performance. The system also uses big data to generates information about the postal client behaviour, which, among others, can be used to identify new business segments.

Revenue Protection Workflow