bulk mailing for meeting notice

Per RCW we need to send notice by First class mail. Can we use bulk mailing rates?

WA state RCW's
(1) A meeting of the association must be held at least once each year. Special meetings of the association may be called by the president, a majority of the board of directors, or by owners having ten percent of the votes in the association. Not less than fourteen nor more than sixty days in advance of any meeting, the secretary or other officers specified in the bylaws shall cause notice to be hand-delivered or sent prepaid by first-class United States mail to the mailing address of each owner or to any other mailing address designated in writing by the owner. The notice of any meeting shall state the time and place of the meeting and the business to be placed on the agenda by the board of directors for a vote by the owners, including the general nature of any proposed amendment to the articles of incorporation, bylaws, any budget or changes in the previously approved budget that result in a change in assessment obligation, and any proposal to remove a director.

I think bulk mailing rates are based on the amount of letters you're mailing, so you may wish to check with the Post Office - we looked into this once, but our community's too small.

If you can use bulk mailing, your next concern is timing to ensure everyone gets the letter within the proper deadline before the meeting. We have to send meeting notices 30 days in advance, so we usually count backwards from the mailing date, adding on 3-5 days to allow the mail to get to the owners, as some live out of state.

One other thing to consider is that if you mail by first class you will receive a notice if the address has changed. I do not think you get that with bulk rates.

I worked on a political campaign many years ago where we sent fliers by bulk mail and I recall it was quite a convoluted process. We were fortunate that one of our volunteers handled bulk mailing for a large corporation and knew the ins and outs. We were sending out something like 50,000 pieces so the savings in postage costs was worth the extra effort on our end. A smaller mailing just may not be worth the savings.

Sounds good !!