We have a dedicated team of expert professionals who not only provide outstanding technical support, but we help keep you up to date. Staying abreast of the ever-changing rules and regulations, policies and procedures in the mailing and shipping industry is a daunting task at best. We hope you will find this blog filled with pertinent information you can use to run your business more efficiently and profitably. As always, we welcome your feedback and comments.
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Well, it was a long time coming, but the time is, indeed, here. The publication of our 4th white paper – “eDoc and PostalOne! They’re What’s Best for You and the USPS.”
This paper explores the world of electronic documentation (eDoc) and the USPS PostalOne! system. It looks at why the Postal Service is really pushing for mailers to switch to eDoc, what PostalOne! is and how using it benefits you, the 3 ways to particpate in eDoc, the benefits of eDoc and why you should begin implementing eDoc right now. It also discusses the very latest information and instructions for getting started using eDoc and PostalOne! - including the new TEM procedures detailed in the latest eDoc and Full-Service Authorization Guide for Mail.dat.
And – just as with all of our previous white papers - this brand new 21-page paper is available at no cost.
Please click here to access and download this incredible new white paper from the postal experts here at Window Book.
- Wallace Vingelis
Vice President, Business Development & Marketing
617-395-4569
Mailing industry leaders met with USPS PMG Pat Donahoe this morning where he announced that the Postal Service plans to file an inflation-based price increase request this afternoon. The proposed implementation date will be April 17, 2011.
They will seek an overall increase of 1.741% increase.
First-Class Mail will see an overall increase of 1.7%, but the $0.44 Forever stamp will remain unchanged.
Standard Mail will also see a 1.7% increase. Letters will go up by 1.8%. Flats will go up 0.8%. The big hit in Standard are Parcels and NFMs, which will go up 11.3%.
USPS officials also announced that the May 2011 implementation date for switching to Intelligent Mail barcodes to qualify for automation rates is being pushed back, however, no new date has been announced yet.
More to follow after the filing!
Wallace Vingelis
Vice President, Business Development & Marketing
Window Book, Inc.
Phone: (617) 395-4569
Fax: (617) 395-5969
email: wvingelis@windowbook.com
URL: www.windowbook.com
Along with the announced price changes for the USPS competitive products (e.g. Express Mail, Priority Mail, Parcel Select, etc.), the USPS is also offering several pricing initiatives (Reply Rides Free and Saturation and High Density Standard Mail), all of which result in format changes to many postage statements. These postage statement changes are effective with the implementation of the new rates on January 2, 2011. However, since the information regarding the format of the revised postage statements was not published until just recently, the USPS has communicated plans to provide extensions until January 28, 2011 for mailers not able to produce the new format postage statements by January 2. This information was communicated in a notice published to members of the Major Mailers Association, the text of which is shown below:
The headquarters Business Mail Acceptance has developed the following plan for customers who will not be able to present the new postage statement on January 2, 2011:
- The field BMEUs will be notified to continue accepting the old postage statement from customers that cannot make the change by Jan 2nd, and continue to do so until Jan 28, 2011 if necessary. No exception request will be needed for customers who expect to be capable of producing the new postage statements by Jan 28th.
- The old postage statement covers existing products only and does not include new package products such as Critical Mail and Regional Rate Boxes. Any customer using products that are not included on the old postage statement must complete a hardcopy postage statement for those products until they are capable of producing the new mailing statement.
- The BMEU staff will maintain a questionnaire for each of the customers that continue to use the old statement with the primary purpose of ascertaining when the customer will be able to comply and produce the new postage statements.
- Customers that do not anticipate meeting the Jan 28th cutoff date for accepting the old postage statements will need to request an exception through the normal exception process and the local BMEU will assist with that process.
- No postage statement is created for eVS manifest mailers consequently no process change will be required unless an existing eVS customer is using a new product. Any eVS customer mailing one of the new products available after Jan 2 that cannot complete the new postage statement should work one on one with their Strategic Account Manager or Business Alliance Manager to ensure a seamless acceptance process.
Due to the short time frame, it is not expected that the USPS will publish this as an “official notice” so mailers should work with their local Business Mail Acceptance offices if they need to take advantage of the extension.
Mailers are strongly encouraged to implement the new postage statements as soon as possible as it is very costly for the USPS to support both old and new postage statements.
On Friday 12/17/2010, the USPS announced they will be delaying the implementation of the eDoc penalties that could cost mailers additional money should their eDoc not be in full compliance with PostalOne! and Seamless Acceptance standards. Here are the specific items that the USPS planned to be checking for in January:
- Invalid mail preparer/mail owner (“By/For”) information
- Errors in Customer/Supplier Agreements (CSA’s)
- Invalid Mailer IDs
- Invalid Service Type Identifiers
- Non-unique mailpiece, handling unit, or container barcodes
Read below the letter from Steve Kearney of the USPS to the Mailer’s Technical Advisory Committee:
Letter to MTAC from MTAC Co-Chair
Dear MTACers:
We are delaying Full-Service eDoc postage corrections, which we had planned to deploy on January 2, 2011, to give mailers more time to use information from a new report to help correct errors in their electronic documentation.
The new publication — PostalOne!® Full-Service Error report — allows eDoc submitters to review the quality of submissions, identify jobs with errors, and calculate the correct postage. This report also allows the eDoc submitter to request reconciliation of identified errors.
We encourage mailers to take advantage of the reconciliation process and use the feedback to correct Full-Service eDoc issues.
In addition, enhancements to the MicroStrategy Mail Data Quality reports provide detailed information on piece counts and postage amounts for pieces that are not compliant with Full-Service requirements.
Mailers have begun using these two reports — MicroStrategy Mail Data Quality and Full-Service Error — to assess the quality of their eDoc. We are continuing to work through the MTAC 137 group to address mailers’ concerns.
Please be sure to utilize the MicroStrategy Mail Data Quality reports and the PostalOne! Full-Service Error reports. Also, tell us about any issues you have with the PostalOne! help desk, 800-522-9085.
Best regards,
Steve Kearney
MTAC Co-Chair
U.S. Postal Service
Full-Service eDoc Verification and Assessment
The November 2010 PostalOne! release will introduce a process for the evaluation of eDoc for Intelligent Mail Full-Service mailings. The process will evaluate Full-Service eDoc for:
- Invalid Mailer ID
- Invalid Service Type ID
- Incorrect By/For information
- Incorrect Customer/Supplier Agreement (CSA) information
- Non-unique barcodes
On January 2, 2011, these errors will result in the loss of Full-Service discounts. Mailers should use the feedback to correct errors found during Full-Service verification prior to implementation of the Full-Service Discount Removal on January 2, 2011. Additional information can be found on RIBBS in the PostalOne! Release 25.0 release notes.
Full-Service Feedback Webinars:
The next USPS Full-Service Feedback webinar will be broadcast on Thursday, October 28 at 3 p.m. (EDT). This webinar explains the eDoc Verification process and Mail Data Quality reports. Log in information on the Webinars is posted on RIBBS® under Intelligent Mail Latest News.
As always, if you have questions about this information, please feel free to contact me or anyone here at Window Book.
Wallace Vingelis
Director, Postal Industry Practice
Window Book, Inc.
Phone: (617) 395-4569
email: wvingelis@windowbook.com
Proof of Mailing: Say Goodbye to the Red Round Stamp
As the United States Postal Service® (USPS) and the mailing industry are busy with the integration of Intelligent Mail® (IM), one item of particular concern to the ultimate postage payer seems to have fallen by the wayside. That item is the official proof that the mail has been accepted and paid for. For years, postage payers of bulk mailings have relied upon the red round dated stamp on the postage statements or other USPS documents as proof of mailing. That red round stamp still exists today, but be prepared for it to fade into the sunset soon.
Why is the red round stamp disappearing? It is due to the increasing use of electronic documentation (e-docs) rather than hard copy documents. With Intelligent Mail Full Service, use of e-docs is required, which will eliminate the ability for postal clerks to apply the red round stamp to hard copy postage statements. What then, is to be used to provide proof of mailing?
The USPS does provide for an electronic receipt file once postage statements have been processed through PostalOne!, however these receipts do not contain any detailed information about the mailing. These receipts can be obtained either individually or in batch mode, but in either case, it requires an active effort by the mailer or postage payer to obtain these receipt files. This does not sound like a big deal unless you are a large volume mailer, or a mail preparer who processes mail for numerous clients. This change in USPS process creates the need for a new mailers process that is not required when hard copy statements are used.
Moreover, since the receipts are not attached in any way to the postage statements themselves, it also creates an additional process of reconciling the receipt file to the postage statements. There are USPS statement numbers, register numbers, and mailing group ID numbers on both documents for purposes of reconciliation, but this would be a manual process. Also of concern is that it is not clear how long this receipt information will remain on the PostalOne! site, so access after the fact may prove to be troublesome.
Inevitably, software developers and other mailing process suppliers will create more automated means to obtain and reconcile this information, likely even including an electronic facsimile of the old red round date stamp. However, these methods will vary depending on the supplier, so postage payers who do business with multiple mail preparers will be faced with a variety of representations of the USPS proof of mailing.
The mailing industry has been calling for the USPS to respond to this issue by asking them to provide a more automated, easy to use proof of mailing. The USPS has not been very responsive to this request, mostly because they have their hands full implementing other more critical components of IM and because their budgets do not allow for additional programming to accomplish this.
As a result, postage payers and mail preparers need to be made aware of this issue and prepare for it. You should be working with your postal contacts and mailing associations to raise the awareness of this problem with the USPS. You should also be planning for the worst-case scenario, which is that the USPS will not be able to provide an automated solution anytime soon. In this case, you need to work with your software developers to come up with some workable interim solutions. You will also need to be prepared to handle these additional processes and to educate your staff and clients as to the interim solution.
We all can agree that hard copy postal documents need to be eliminated and replaced with electronic documents. However, this should not be done at the price of creating additional work for postage payers. Only by making your voices heard through your mailing associations, and by making plans in advance of IM implementation will you make yourself prepared for this change in USPS processes.
Monica Lundquist, Postal Affairs, Window Book, Inc.
Summary:
Window Book releases its mailing software, DAT-MAIL, Post Master, Complete Postal Library, and Postal Business Companion, with the new July 19th 2009 USPS High Density Standard Mail Flats prices.
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Window Book’s DAT-MAIL is updated with new USPS High Density Standard Mail Flats Prices
Window Book releases its mailing software, DAT-MAIL, Post Master, Complete Postal Library, and Postal Business Companion, with the new July 19th 2009 USPS High Density Standard Mail Flats prices.
Effective July 19 pricing for Standard Mail (Regular and Nonprofit) Commercial Flats will be decreased by 0.1¢ per-piece. For Flats weighing less than 3.3 oz, the per-piece rates are slightly lower. For Flats greater than 3.3 oz, the per-piece rates are higher, but the per-pound rates are lower.
This new incentive will allow High Density Flats mailers save on their mailing expenses especially during this tough economy. For example, a mailing job of 1,000 pieces of flats which weigh .4lb/piece will now only cost $336.60 instead of $345.60. For high volume mailers, the reduced rates will definitely yield a significant sum of savings.
“Window Book has built a set of technologies that enables mailers to update their software in advance of any postal rate change and allow them to see the difference in rates just by changing the date of mailing in the software. This enables companies to be prepared in advance and know exactly what is coming. Users can then tell their customers in advance. We are pleased to be able to offer efficient and fast rate-updates in advance of the actual effective dates for our clients,” said Jeffery Peoples, Window Book’s CEO.
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