Postal Affairs Blog

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

wvingelis@windowbook.com

The Postal Service made final clarifications on non-profit eligibility, commingled mail procedures and the usage of Postal Wizard for their Summer 2011 Mobile Barcode Promotion.

Access all the latest and final information here: https://ribbs.usps.gov/index.cfm?page=mobilebarcode

Wallace Vingelis

Vice President, Business Development & Marketing

Window Book, Inc.                

Phone:  (617) 395-4569

email:    wvingelis@windowbook.com

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

With the recent publication of our latest white paper - ”Intelligent Mail Full-Service:  Critical Steps to Understanding and Implementing” – we want to hear from you. 

Take this opportunity to comment, question, disagree – whatever you want – but do it here.  Reply to this blog post.  Let us know how we did. 

Wallace Vingelis

Director, Postal Industry Practice

Window Book, Inc.                

Phone:  (617) 395-4569

email:    wvingelis@windowbook.com

In our ongoing efforts to educate mailers and the postal industry as a whole about critical changes happening with the USPS, we are publishing an informative, 29-page white paper titled, “Intelligent Mail Full-Service: Critical Steps to Understanding and Implementing”.

The Postal Team here at Window Book believes that in this white paper you’ll discover:

• What’s going on in the Postal industry
• The differences between the Full-Service and Basic options
• What Full-Service will do for you (It’s not just about the discounts!)
• The 3 ways to participate in the USPS PostalOne! System  
• What steps you need to take, and in which order, to get going with IM Full-Service
• And much, much more!

Click here to download your free copy of Intelligent Mail Full-Service: Critical Steps to Understanding and Implementing.

Wallace Vingelis

Director, Postal Industry Practice

Window Book, Inc.                

Phone:  (617) 395-4569

email:    wvingelis@windowbook.com

As we’ve discussed previously in this blog, the red round date stamp from the United States Postal Service^® (USPS^®), which mailers have used for years as proof of mailing, is no longer available for electronically submitted postage statements. The USPS recently announced that the red round date stamp will also be discontinued for hard copy statements, effective March 15, 2010. This change will be effective for postal facilities that are equipped with PostalOne! Facilities without access to PostalOne! will continue to round stamp hard copy postage statements.

In lieu of the red round stamp, the USPS is asking mailers to obtain their receipts using the Business Customer Gateway to access PostalOne! Upon request, mailers may also obtain a hard copy receipt (Form 3607) from the USPS. The 3607 form, currently called the Weighing and Dispatch Certificate, will be reformatted and renamed in March to Mailing Transaction Receipt, Form 3607-R.

The mail verification and acceptance processes will not change, only the transaction receipt process. The acceptance clerk will verify the mailing as usual; however they will no longer complete the “USPS Only” section of the postage statements. In the past, the clerk would record the results of the verification process and manually apply the red round date stamp in this area. In the future, the clerks will enter this verification information into PostalOne! The wording on the postage statement form will change from “USPS Use Only” to “USPS Use Only—To Be Completed at Non-PostalOne! sites ONLY.” PostalOne! is the system of record and can be accessed to view postage statement details and print hard copies, if needed.

The Postal Service will modify the DMM^® (Domestic Mail Manual) language regarding the return of a duplicate postage statement to the mailer, differentiating between PostalOne! and non-PostalOne! sites.

Here are the key changes:

• If not submitting postage statements electronically, the customer must provide an original postage statement with the mailing.
• Acceptance personnel will no longer complete the “USPS Use Only” section of hard copy postage statements for offices that enter postage statements into the PostalOne! system.
• Acceptance personnel will no longer complete and return a “duplicate” postage statement (as defined in sections 244.4.1, 334.4.1, of the DMM).
• Acceptance personnel will no longer round-date stamp hard copy postage statements.
• Acceptance personnel will retain the original copy of the postage statement and attach the USPS Form 3607 (Statement of Mailing/Weighing and Dispatch Certificate)* to it on file, as prescribed by the Administrative Support Manual.
• Upon a customer’s request, the acceptance personnel will print the USPS Form 3607 and provide it to the customer along with any duplicate copies of postage statements provided.
• The only acceptable means of proof of postage payment for mailings will be an electronic version of a finalized postage statement, or the USPS Form 3607, generated from the Postal Service’s PostalOne! system.

*In the March 15 upgrade to the PostalOne! system, PS Form 3607 will be replaced with PS Form 3607-R (Mailing Transaction Receipt).

Mailers may obtain more information regarding electronic postage statements by referencing the User Access to Electronic Mailing Information and Reports Guide: Business Customer Gateway Information, On-line Services, and Full-Service Tools. In this document, Appendix B, Access to Hard Copy Postage Statements, provides information on how to access the Business Customer Gateway and retrieve postage statements.

For more information about the Business Customer Gateway and how to access it, visit ribbs.usps.gov.

If you have been working on integrating Intelligent Mail (IM) your mailing processes, you already know that there is much more to this program than just a new barcode. In fact, printing the barcode may be the least complex part of the whole integration!

If you are just getting started with IM, or have not yet begun, you really ought to devote some time and planning to your integration process. If you think you can just ignore it, hoping it will all go away, think again. The United States Postal Service^® (USPS) has invested millions of dollars in the IM program, and it really is the next generation of technology for mailing. Mailers who do not embrace this new technology will find themselves left out in the cold; unable to participate in the latest postal initiatives. Before you pooh-pooh the whole idea as not worthy of any investment in time or resources, consider the following:

The USPS is implementing a postal discount for mailers using IM, effective November 29, 2009. While the discounts don’t sound like much ($.003 per piece for First-Class and $.001 for Standard, Periodicals and Package Services mail), these small amounts can add up quickly for large volume mailers. This initial discount is only the beginning; at some point in the future, many discounts will be tied to the use of IM.

Use of IM allows you to take advantage of a number of mail tracking options. You can track individual pieces of mail or just containers of mail. This information can be extremely valuable to better pinpoint delivery dates of mail. This can help you or your clients in any number of ways:

• Timing your direct mail message to related television, radio, newspaper or internet marketing messages.
• Planning your staffing and other resources in call centers, product warehouses, shipping centers, retail stores, or internet sites.
• Longer term analysis of direct marketing efforts to pinpoint the most successful times of the year, days of the week, etc.

IM also allows you to have proof that your mail has entered the postal stream and more importantly, you can track it through the USPS processing chain.

For mail service providers, if you don’t offer IM, your competitors will! Most businesses can’t afford to lose work for any reason, and never has that been truer than in this challenging economy. Before you dismiss IM as being too costly or time consuming to implement, consider the potential cost of lost revenue if you delay implementation or elect not to do so at all. IM is a critical part of just staying in the game at this point, so make sure you take this into account in your financial analysis.

IM helps improve address accuracy. With Full Service IM, mailers receive free ACS (Address Change Service). This service, which currently has a price of $.26 per correction, is FREE with Full Service IM and can provide up-to-date address information for your customers and prospects who have moved. Moreover, this service also provides helpful error codes on addresses which may not involve a move but may not be entirely accurate for postal delivery purposes. Keeping addresses current and accurate not only saves postage, but helps you stay in contact with your customers.

IM helps streamline mailing processes and reduce paperwork. Part of the USPS cost savings of the IM program comes from the requirement to submit electronic documentation via the internet. This cost savings accrues to mailers as well, in reduced costs for printers, paper, toner, etc. and reduced administrative costs of processing and storing all the hard copy documentation. This can also result in reduced amounts of time to process and present mail to the USPS and reduced time for mail verification and acceptance by the USPS.

If you are still procrastinating on integration of IM, don’t be afraid. There is plenty of help available. The USPS has numerous online guides and other information available, including recorded tutorials. Many of your suppliers, such as software vendors, logistics suppliers, mailing equipment manufacturers, etc. can offer all kinds of assistance and educational materials. Mailing and other industry associations can also provide a wealth of information. You need look no further than your local Postal Customer Council (PCC) for help and interaction with other mailers in your area who are also implementing IM.

The November 29 implementation date for IM discounts is just around the corner. The full impact of IM will go far beyond that date however, and the sooner you get on board, the sooner you can take advantage of the many benefits of IM. Don’t delay!

Monica Lundquist, Postal Affairs Manager, Window Book, Inc.