State saves on mail

Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2001 | 10:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state saved more than $1 million during the past two years by consolidating and automating its mail service and taking advantage of postage discounts, a legislative audit says.

The audit, released Monday, said further savings could be realized by combining the state's mail service with those of the University and Community College System of Nevada in the northern part of the state.

The state mail room combined with the state Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety, which had automated mail processing equipment, including a bar coder.

To qualify for discounts, the mail must have a bar code affixed underneath the address prior to mailing. This bar code can be read by the machines in the Post Office, making it easier to process the mail for delivery.

Bar coded mail must be in large volume and be sorted by ZIP code to qualify for a discount.

Postage on a regular first class letter cost 33 cents in the last two years. But the state, using its equipment, paid 26.1 cents. And the state could reduce the cost to 24.3 cents per letter if the bar coded letters were sorted to five-digits, instead of the present three digits.

Further savings are possible, said Legislative Auditor Gary Crews. The University of Nevada, Reno pays 30.5 cents to mail its first-class letters. The Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno and Western Nevada Community College in Carson City pay the full rate of 33 cents.

Crews said other consolidation opportunities include bringing in the state Public Employees Retirement System, the Public Employees Benefits Program, state contractors and nonprofit entities that provide services to Nevada.

"These opportunities are only available in the Carson City-Reno area because mail services in the Las Vegas-Henderson area lacks sufficient volume to realize automation savings," Crews said.

The state mail room processes more than 9 million pieces of mail a year.