The administrative burden that's stealing your growth
Here is the reality every insurance agency faces: You have team members with 20+ years of industry experience — insurance professionals who understand coverage nuances, can navigate complex insurance underwriting scenarios, and build lasting client relationships. These are your revenue generators, your competitive advantage.
Yet how much of their time is spent on administrative tasks? Printing certificates, stuffing envelopes, managing returned mail, updating address lists, and dealing with equipment malfunctions. Every hour spent on these activities is an hour not spent on business development, client service, or strategic planning.
The math is sobering. If a skilled professional earning $75,000 annually spends just 10 hours per week on printing and mailing tasks, that is $18,750 in annual opportunity cost — not including the direct expenses of maintaining the infrastructure to support these activities.
When you have team members with decades of insurance expertise, the opportunity cost of having them manage paper workflows is enormous. These insurance professionals should be developing business, serving clients, and driving revenue — not troubleshooting printer jams and sorting mail.
The real math: Why in-house printing is a money pit
The actual cost of in-house printing and mailing extends far beyond the obvious expenses. Start with the equipment: industrial printers capable of handling insurance volume, folder/inserter machines, postage meters, and the worktables and storage furniture to support operations. Then factor in space requirements — you will need a minimum of 80-120 square feet of dedicated area with proper climate control for paper storage and optimized workflow positioning.
Personnel costs add up quickly too. Beyond salaries and benefits for dedicated staff, you are looking at ongoing training expenses for equipment operation and maintenance, plus coverage costs for sick days and vacations. The operational expenses never stop; paper in multiple sizes and weights, branded envelopes in various configurations, ink and toner supplies, IT setup and support, utility costs for power-hungry equipment, and repair and maintenance contracts that are activated at the worst possible moments.
But the hidden costs often prove most expensive: paying full-rate postage instead of bulk rates, managing address corrections and returned mail, handling supply chain logistics and inventory management, and dealing with equipment downtime that brings everything to a halt. When agencies finally calculate the complete picture, many discover they are spending $50,000 or more annually on printing and mailing infrastructure — and that is before factoring in the opportunity cost of diverting skilled insurance professionals from revenue-generating activities.
Real results: When speed makes the difference
A client needed to print and distribute 4,200 benefit guides (BAAGs) to 33 locations across the country. They received three quotes from traditional printing services, with the least expensive option being Staples. The catch? A 10-12 business day turnaround for printing, plus additional shipping time.
The client could not wait that long — they needed the guides that week to close an important deal. The delays from traditional print and mail services would have cost them the business entirely. In insurance, timing often makes the difference between winning and losing opportunities, and when your printing infrastructure fails you, it’s not just an inconvenience — it’s lost revenue.
This scenario plays countless times across the industry. Agencies lose opportunities, disappoint clients, and damage relationships because their administrative processes can’t keep up with business demands.
The strategic question every agency must answer
Here is what it really comes down to: Every hour your experienced insurance professionals spend on printing, mailing, and administrative tasks is an hour not spent on the activities that grow your business. When you consider the full cost — equipment, space, personnel, supplies, and opportunity cost — many agencies discover they’re investing enormous resources in activities that generate zero revenue.
The question isn’t whether you can afford to outsource these functions. The question is whether you can afford not to.
What is the alternative?
Twenty years ago, Patra recognized this exact challenge facing insurance distributors and built our foundation on solving it. We understood that agencies needed more than just printing services — they needed strategic partners who could handle the administrative burden while maintaining the precision and reliability that insurance work demands.
For 20 years, we have specialized exclusively in the insurance industry. We understand the unique compliance requirements, the seasonal fluctuations, the urgency of certificate requests, and the critical importance of accuracy in every document that leaves your office. This is not just printing — it is insurance printing, and there is a world of difference.
Today, we process over 15 million insurance documents annually, helping agencies reclaim their most valuable resource: time. But the story of how we do it — and how it can renovate your agency’s operations — deserves its own discussion.
Ready to stop throwing money into the printing "money pit”?
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About Patra
Patra is a leading provider of technology-enabled insurance outsourcing services and AI-powered software solutions. Patra powers insurance processes by optimizing the application of people and technology, supporting insurance organizations as they sell, deliver, and manage policies and customers through our PatraOne platform. Patra’s global team of over 6,500 process executives in geopolitically stable and democratic countries that protect data allows agencies, MGAs, wholesalers, and carriers to capture the Patra Advantage – profitable growth and organizational value.
