How a Financial Advisory Office Ditched the Postage Meter and Got Hours Back

In a well-run financial advisory practice, the advisor focuses on clients. The operations side—compliance paperwork, client documentation, mail—runs like clockwork in the background. At Justice Financial Services in Mentor, Ohio, that’s Cheri Mataraza’s domain. She’s been at it for 18 years.

For much of that time, handling the mail meant a Pitney Bowes postage meter. It meant renting the machine, ordering $40 ink cartridges when they ran out, and standing at it one envelope at a time—because that was the only way to do it. When the office was at its busiest, Mataraza was sending out upwards of 200 pieces a week. At a couple of seconds per envelope, that adds up fast.

“You’d be standing there at that machine and then the phone rings,” she said. “You’d have to stop, walk back to your desk, grab the phone.”

And when a package was too large for the meter, that meant a trip to the post office. At the height of it, she was making that drive twice a week.

A simpler way to send

The cost of the Pitney Bowes setup—rental fees, ink, special label tapes for larger envelopes—is ultimately what pushed Justice Financial Services toward Stamps.com. But what Mataraza found on the other side was more than just savings.

“Now I do everything right from my desk,” she explained.

With Stamps.com as the firm’s online postage solution, Mataraza prints postage directly from her computer, peels the label, and sticks it on the envelope. The office has a scale, so she can weigh larger packages and apply the right postage without leaving the building. Post office trips—for ordinary mail—are a thing of the past.

The change that stands out most isn’t the money. It’s the freedom to keep working.

In a two-person office where every interruption has a cost, that kind of flexibility matters.

The numbers add up

In financial services, paperwork doesn’t disappear—it evolves. Justice Financial Services has embraced e-signature for a lot of what used to require printed forms. But many clients, especially older ones, still prefer mail. And when a client passes away and there are eight beneficiaries to reach—each needing account applications, claim paperwork, and disclosures—the mail has to go out reliably and fast.

“Five of her eight beneficiaries would not use e-signature,” Mataraza recalled. “I was able to do everything from my desk and didn’t have to go to the post office at all. I just packaged it up and waited for the mailman.”

The savings from switching to an online postage solution for financial services add up quickly. The $40-per-cartridge postage ink is gone entirely. The monthly Stamps.com subscription runs at least $10 less than what Pitney Bowes cost. And every avoided post office trip represents roughly 30 minutes not spent in the car, in line, or away from the desk. At twice a week, that was close to four hours a month on post office logistics alone.

When office volume was at its peak—200 pieces a week—Stamps.com was saving a couple of hours a week over the old meter. Back then, that time was spent standing at a machine. Now, it isn’t.

One less thing to worry about

Mataraza has been a Stamps.com customer for about 10 years. The office has gotten quieter—more e-signatures, fewer envelopes—but the ones that need to go out still go out the same way: from her desk, without interruption, without a trip anywhere.

For any advisor’s assistant or office manager looking for a better online postage solution for financial services work, her advice is simple.

If mail is one more thing on your plate, Stamps.com can take it off. See how it works for financial services offices.