Bulk Mailing Information For Wilmington Lodge No. 804

Wilmington Lodge No. 804, like many other Lodges, takes advantage of the fact that we can mail our monthly notices via non-profit bulk mail, which saves us a fair amount of money each year even though it makes a lot more work for the Secretary of the Lodge.

When I took over the Office of Secretary, bulk mailing was already in effect for our Lodge.  It had been set up by our previous Secretary, Jack C. Welsh, several years prior.  Therefore, I am not really up on what is required for a Lodge to get set up for bulk mailing.

If your Lodge needs to get cheaper mailing via using bulk mail you should contact your closest USPS and they can probably help you get established as a bulk mailer.

Bulk mailing requires a bulk mailing permit which must be purchased each year. 

On 13 April 2009 I paid our bulk mailing permit for the next year.  The cost of the permit was $180.00 and it will expire on 18 May 2010, if it actually gets renewed for a year from the date expired, which I assume will happen.  I took a check to the USPS in New Castle in the amount of $250.00 with the additional $70.00 going into our account for mailing.

Wilmington Lodge now has to take the mailing to the New Castle Post Office instead of the Local Office in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania.  This has caused a bit of a problem but was solved because one of our members works close to the New Castle Post Office and had graciously offered to drop the mailing off after work.  Another example of Masons working together to help one another.  If he had not been willing to do this for the Secretary our Lodge would probably have had to resort to paying First Class Postage on all notices as the Secretary cannot get form his place of employment to the New Castle Post Office during the limited hours the PO is open for accepting bulk mail.

Our Lodge keeps a monetary balance on the books of the Post Office so that we do not need to pay each and every month, which makes it a bit easier for the Secretary, Treasurer and for the Audit Committee, as there are only a few checks that need to be written each year for postage.

Each entity using Bulk Mail must send a minimum of 200 pieces of mail for each mailing.  This results in the Secretary sending at least 25 to 35 notices to himself each month.  This seems odd and wasteful but that is the way it is. Once again, there is no free lunch for those who are productive.