Gloucester City Homes puts the ‘home’ in home-working with Postworks

Home is where the heart is, and it’s also where the post is, thanks to remote working made possible by Postworks. 

“We knew we were losing time and money to post, but it wasn’t until the need for remote working forced the issue that we realised just how beneficial online posting could be.” – Bethany Pollard, Senior Marketing & Communications Officer, Gloucester City Homes

Gloucester City Homes is a housing association that provides affordable homes and thriving communities for thousands of residents. They own and manage over 4,400 rentals, 312 leaseholds, 100 shared ownerships and 89 homeless units. 

Naturally, this generates a lot of outgoing post.

That’s a lot of letters

On any given day, GCH can be sending out tenancy agreements, rental statements and warning letters – totalling an average of 10,000 letters per year!

When sending so many letters, it’s more important than ever to ensure that each and every one is delivered, and delivered on time. 

A late or missing letter isn’t just an inconvenience; it can delay processes, breach legal deadlines, and go against GCH’s values of pride, quality, and integrity.

Mail merge meltdowns

We’ve said it above, but we’ll say it again. 10,000 letters a year is a lot of mail for any business, especially when printing, stuffing and stamping by hand. 

Mail merges over 200 were sent to a local print supplier. However, even that process was taking up valuable time and resources while still resulting in errors. 

Bethany estimates that staff were spending up to 30 minutes per day processing post – that’s 1,560 minutes per year or 26 back-to-back episodes of Homes Under the Hammer. 

When lockdown kicked in, this niggling issue became a prominent concern. GCH didn’t want anyone working from the office unless absolutely necessary, which meant they needed to outsource their mail. ASAP.

A letter in a click? Shut the front door

“I felt like Postworks genuinely wanted to help us find the best solution for our problems, and they did!”

This wasn’t Bethany’s first rodeo. She’d been approached or, in her words, “hounded” by other external post providers, all of which had one thing in common: GCH has to change its processes. 

Postworks’ simple, affordable and adaptable solution was a breath of fresh air. 

GCH has integrated its existing systems and processes with Postworks, allowing them to continue BAU for tenants while providing employees with an easy-to-use system that saves them significant time and allows them to work remotely. 

And, the benefits didn’t stop with tenants or employees either. 

Bethany now has complete visibility over outgoing post and has generated unexpected cost savings, too. 

“Postworks has brought GCH a wealth of benefits that we simply didn’t expect. Our processes are simpler, we’re saving money, letters are going out on time, and we’ve been able to fully embrace remote working with zero impact on our customers. All I can say is thank you!”

To turn your office into a home-working machine, book a Postworks demo here and prepare to be amazed.