SONE MISCELLANEOUS POINTS ON CIRCULARISING A coNsumaABLE difference of opinion exists on the question of the best method of posting circular-letters. Some large firms sending out great quantities of circulars, consider that it is just as successful to send them under a halfpenny stanip as in sealed envelopes under a penny stamp ; others, equally large and equally successful, strongly maintain the opposite. Before discussing the question it is worth quoting the regulations of the Post Office on this matter. Broadly speaking, of course, all printed papers may be sent by the halfpenny packet post, provided that they do not exceed two ounces in w2ight. The word " printing " is taken to mean " Any species of type printing easy to recognise, or any mechanical process ordinarily used to produce a number of identical copies of written matter and easy to recognise, such as lithography and hand stamping. Documents wholly or partly printed in imitation of typewriting, or reproduced from a typewritten original by a mechanical process ordinarily used to produce a number of identical copies, are not admissible by the halfpenny post unless • " (a) They are handed in at a Head or Branch Post Office. (Such documents are also accepted provisionally al Town Sub-offices and at certain of the more important Rural Town Sub-offices, subject to their being found to be in order when examined at the Head Office to which they will be sent); " (b) Special attention is drawn to the fact that they are printed or repro duced in imitation of typewriting ; "lc) At least twenty copies are posted at the same time.
" ' Writing ' includes typewriting and any mechanical or other process ordinarily used to produce a single document." Such letters, of course, may be accompanied by ordinary printed matter, such as leaflets, booklets, blotting-pads, etc., provided such enclosures come within the regulation covering this class of post. Such circulars must of course be posted " without a cover, or in an unfastened envelope, or in a cover which can be easily removed for the purpose of examination without breaking any seal, or tearing any paper, or separating any adhering surfaces." The regulations for foreign and colonial post are practically the same.
It will be seen that the difference between the two classes of post is exactly ls. 8d. a thousand, and if a large number of circulars are sent out this is well worth saving. At the same time, the general experience seems to prove that unless the class of person addressed is a poor one and is in the habit of receiving very few letters indeed, the policy is a " penny wise and pound foolish ' one but no hard and-fast rule can be laid down, and it is a matter to be decided by actual experiment with each fresh proposition. After all,
receipts are nearly always sent out under halfpenny postage, and yet are nearly always opened, so that they receive at least some attention, and it seems a fairly strong argument that circulars ;:ent out in a similar fashion would have at least a chance of being read.
Filling in Names and Addresses A similar difference of opinion exists upon the question of filling iu the name and address to match the actual printing of the circular, but here it seems that the value of doing this is inclined to be over-rated. Of course, where the proposition is an expensive one, it is perhaps wise to do so in order to lose no opportunity of endeavouring to secure orders, but except in such cases the expense of filling in the names does not seem to be really warranted. A well-written and well-produced letter without the name and address would seem to stand ahnost as good a chance of being read as if the name was included, whereas a badly written letter, or one produced in a slipshod fashion, would seem to gain little from the extra trouble and expense. The people who would read such a letter would do so in any case.
Moreover, unless the name is filled in perfectly (as it must be admitted very few letters are), so as to be indistinguishable to all save a printing expert, the effect is likely to be the reverse of good. The filling in of the name and address so badly as not to match the rest of the letter, merely calls attention to the fact that it is a circular, and in the practical working of an ordinary commercial proposition it is almost impossible to ensure that the matching will be kept absolutely perfect, although this may quite possibly be achieved for the first week or two. While discussing this point, it is worth mentioning that certain firms go to great trouble in filling in the customer's name, not only at the head of the letter but also in the middle of it, making an opportunity by bringing in some such statement as, " This is an offer we make specially to you Mr. Smith." As a matter of fact this trouble does not seem justified by results, and only affords another opportunity for carelessness on the part of the typist, a carelessness which only leads to a more obvious betrayal of the fact that the letter is a circular.