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Billing News

What is the billing process each month at MACC?

By: Joelle Kesling | VP, Support Services

What is the billing process at MACC?  This question has come up a few times in the last few months, so I want to take a minute to go through the process that has been in place at MACC as long as I can remember (and I’ve been here 35 years – please don’t comment on the state of my memory!).

This scenario is mainly for our customers who send their end-user bills at the end of the month.  I don’t want middle of the month companies panicking thinking I’ve forgotten about you!  The process is the same, the steps we take are the same, but for the example below, I’m directly referring to companies whose end-user bills go out by the first of the month.

Once you transmit your billing file out of Customer Master, MACC has 5 business days to get your bills to the USPS.  If transmit date is the 22^nd of the month, and you transmit before noon CST, that is “Day 1.”  If you transmit after noon CST on transmit date, the next business day is “Day 1.”

From there, we verify we have all your toll files (if applicable).  If we do not, we will reach out to your carrier for the data. If we have everything we need, your bills will move to processing.

Once processed, if you are on print notify, you will receive a message letting you know it’s time for you to review and approve your bills.  If you are not on print notify, your billing file will automatically follow our internal process, which takes it to the next step of printing and mailing.  For print notify customers, your billing follows the internal process once we have received your approval.

Next, your customer bills are printed and moved to our bursting / inserting machines.  There, the paper goes in and is burst, folded, inserted, and postage is applied.  Your customer bills then go into USPS-approved trays, where they are loaded onto carts and taken to the post office in Blair.

You can see why we allow 5 business days to get your customer bills to the post office.  Over the past many years, we have done it in far less than 5 days.  However, we have the buffer in case a machine breaks down and needs an emergency repair, we have to reprint bills due to a paper issue, or someone is unexpectedly out of the office.  We also have over 300 companies for whom we are printing bills, and you can imagine that can take a little while!

There are ways you can get the end-user bills to your customers more quickly:

• This will not only get bills to your customers more quickly, but you can get payments more quickly too!  Additionally, the postage savings you will realize when you have a majority of your customers receiving their bills electronically can add up to tens of thousands of dollars per year, depending on the size of your customer base.
• Transmit in earlier. If you typically wait until the 28^th to transmit, transmit in earlier.  Or, if you typically transmit in the afternoon of transmit date, transmit in the morning instead.  These might seem like small changes, but they can make a big difference in your place in line.

As always, I am happy to talk to you if you have questions, comments, or concerns – so please reach out.  My direct line is 402.533.5270, and my e-mail address is jkesling@maccnet.com.

Happy billing everyone!

Joelle