If you want to talk to somebody use a letter, Merpak MD Deon Joubert tells South Africa Magazine. It’s mobile, personal, has that certain look and feel - and in a counter blast to electronic media, it is the only truly sustainable communication medium.

By Colin Chinery

Remember the fable about the tortoise and the hare? Deon Joubert (pictured) brings another pairing to the party of improbable winners: Cyberspace and the Snail Mail.
Joubert is MD of Merpak, the biggest envelope manufacturer and printer in South Africa and probably the African continent. Headquartered in Johannesburg, Merpak delivers expertise, quality and value across the widest range, using different grades of paper, sizes and shapes. Financial institutions account for 40 percent of its business; Retailers with a large credit customer base such as Woolworths are another major segment.
But these are challenging times. “Right now we have the world recession which is concerning credit extension and therefore envelope use,” says Joubert. ”And of course there are alternative ways of communicating, and electronic communication is a channel that will never come back to envelopes - and what unfortunately is termed ‘snail mail.’ It’s gone into cyberspace.”
But the cyber world is not all-conquering, and Joubert argues that even in this digital age with its glitzy alternative media, the uniquely practical and aesthetic qualities of writing paper and envelopes are unmatched by the electronic options.
The Snail Mail like the tortoise can be first across the line, and the challenge says Deon Joubert, is exciting.
Formed 42 years ago -- and still a founder family-owned business -- Merpak has developed competences across different areas, with a speciality in manufacturing premier quality envelopes for high-speed inserting machines.
“The core and backbone of our business is the mail room directed envelope that requires high-speed automatic insertion. Here the quality, size and consistency of the product are critical and over the years we have invested only in the very best equipment – from Winkler and Dunnebier in Germany. But these volumes are stagnating and we have had to develop other competencies.”
Envelope manufacturers worldwide have lagged commercial printers in developing customer service models in both speed to market and capitalising on lucrative jobbing work. Merpak’s expansion programme includes a focus on each.
“The first area is speed to market. It’s not uncommon for a customer to have to wait two to three weeks for an envelope, when in the digital world they can get a brochure printed almost immediately. Quality high speed inserting envelopes remains our core business of course, but we’ve worked very hard and re-directed our energies a little bit to reducing lead times.
“As the remaining top of the range quality manufacturer and printer we now offer products with a lead time down to seventy two hours, we have standard quoted lead times of 10 days – excellent in this market - and we have Rapid Response and Super Rapid Response. So in theory somebody could have a mail campaign ready within three days from conception to being in the mail with our Super Rapid Response channel.”
The other segment where Merpak is differentiating itself is in an area that until now has been dominated by commercial printers; jobbing work from corporates. “There might be a contract for a letterhead, a brochure and a few forms – and the corporate will ask them to print the envelopes as well. Traditionally we’ve never been strong in converting that work for printers, but we’ve found we are good at this.”
With a background of consolidation through acquisition of smaller competitors, Merpak is currently negotiating its first diversification. “We have developed competencies in manufacture, logistics, and sales, and after examining our own processes we know we are able to do just about anything. And so the objective at the moment is to look at opportunities in the paper world, and we are close to signing a deal. It will entail converting paper, it won’t be envelopes, but something completely different, and will add to our basket. This is the way we need to go, to broaden the base and add some arrows to our quiver.”
Meantime Merpak is dealing with two challenges. “In a recession people lose their jobs and then their lines of credit. You might have three or four credit cards and another three or four cards with retailers. Once you lose your credit line we lose perhaps six or seven envelopes as a consequence. As things improve and people get work and open their accounts again and get billed, hopefully we will regain some of this lost volume.
“The other challenge and the more exciting, is the move away from paper based and into electronic communication. This is being driven very, very hard by financial and marketing institutions; they want to save costs.”
The corporates involved also tell us they are “saving the environment”, but as Mae West said, goodness has nothing to do with it. ‘Greenwashing’ – a hybrid of ‘Green’ and ‘whitewashing’ – is corporate cost-cutting dressed up as environmental altruism, and Deon Joubert is critical of “mail and envelope-bashing by people with incorrect agendas.
“A bank for example might suggest you get your statement on line and so ‘Save a Tree’. But there’s no empirical evidence to indicate (a) that sending a mail electronically is going to save a tree and (b) that by inference using traditional mail cuts down trees.”
According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, 90 percent of deforestation is caused by unsustainable agricultural practices, and Joubert points to the persuasive counter intelligence emerging (the UK web site www.twosides.info is a good example).”There’s some wonderful information starting to come out of the paper and print world on the sustainability of paper and paper-based communications.”
Up to 70 percent of paper consumed around the world is being re-cycled, far out-performing the electronic stream, and Merpak pays tribute both to the great loyalty of its suppliers and their strong support of the company’s environmental policy.
“Europe has huge electronic waste streams that will become problematic; plastics and metals that can’t be re-cycled. It’s been said that if paper was invented today it would be hailed as the only truly sustainable communication medium, and there’s much to support this.”
But Joubert concedes his industry is facing a challenge from popular perception. “The electronic media is convenient and instant gratification, and we all use mobile phones, email and all kinds of social networking.
“But that space is so cluttered with an avalanche of information coming at us from all directions, and we say that if you want to get a message from a business to an individual then the letter and direct mail marketing piece is going to hold its head for some time to come. Studies in the UK and Europe suggest that, and the challenge for us is exciting.”
Like every business, domestic economic, social and labour issues confront Merpak: Some 25 percent of Merpak is now Black-owned, and Deon Joubert says it’s important that skills and ownership are transformed.
“South Africa has very, very high rates of unemployment and very strong trade unions. So there is this strange situation where we have quite imposing labour legislation and many people looking for work.
“It’s a fine balance between trying to create a labour-intensive versus a capital intensive operation, and we’ve steadily taken the view that by training people – even if we can’t retain them when they’ve qualified - we will be benefiting both that person and our business while they are with us.
“We have a very aggressive apprenticeship programme and in the last few years we’ve started an apprenticeship programme where we take youngsters, mostly Black kids, straight out of school and teach them to be office administrators.
“As a result we’ve developed six or seven youngsters who can go out into the world with an experience which I think is exceptional. We move them around our business - from sales to marketing, to stores, logistics, factory, admin - and they see the business from the inside outwards. Now that’s pretty unique. We believe very strongly in training and developing people and put a lot of effort into this.”
Joubert is not overly impressed by growth rate estimates of four percent. “Frankly we need 10 percent if we are going to make a serious dent in our unemployment rates. South Africa is blessed with natural mineral resources, which keep part of the economy and our currency reasonably strong, and we have a fantastic banking system, which will be the springboard that will allow us to export into Africa. But overall we have some stark challenges.”
Meantime the Snail Mail is poised, tortoise-like. “When you want to talk to somebody use a letter, it’s a mobile solution, it’s private, and it’s personal and it has the look and the feel. And it’s highly effective as the results coming out of direct marketing organisations are proving.
“It might be a little old fashioned but I believe that whether from marketing or a personal point of view use a letter!”

Image: Getty