From the DMM Advisory on Friday:

September 17, 2010

DMM Advisory

Pricing — keeping you informed about the prices and mailing standards of the United States Postal Service

Published Federal Register Notices

The following two Federal Register notices were published today and are now posted on the Postal Explorer® website at pe.usps.com. We encourage you to check them out:

Intelligent Mail Package Barcode — This advanced notice of proposed rulemaking incorporates standards for the optional use of Intelligent Mail® package barcodes (IMpb) no later than January 2011; and requires the mandatory use of IMpb on all domestic packages beginning in January 2012. The IMpb will provide valuable piece-level package information. We’re looking forward to receiving and considering mailing industry feedback on the proposed timeline before publishing the final standards. Customers are encouraged to respond on or before September 27, 2010.

Express Mail Open and Distribute and Priority Mail Open and Distribute — We are proposing to revise the service commitment for Express Mail Open and Distribute as a guaranteed end of day product to reflect the way it is processed. We are also proposing to add a minimum five-pound weight requirement for Express Mail® Open and Distribute and Priority Mail® Open and Distribute sacks so that they won’t be mistaken for empty sacks and delayed in handling. Customers are encouraged to respond on or before October 18, 2010.

The Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) is available on Postal Explorer (pe.usps.com). To subscribe to the DMM Advisory, send an e-mail to dmmadvisory@usps.com. Simply indicate “subscribe” in the subject line.

Priority Mail Open and Distribute Made Easy

Back when I was in the printing business, I used to cringe whenever a client brought up the possibility of using Priority Mail Drop Shipping for distribution of their mail. As printing companies, we did not often recommend this delivery option to clients because it was, quite frankly, a real pain to implement. Luckily, that is no longer the case, due to true innovations in mailing and shipping software. For some mailers, Priority Mail Drop Shipping is a well-kept secret that they are not aware of, and as a result they are missing out on some great opportunities to improve delivery and reduce costs.

For those of you not familiar with this service, it is technically termed Priority Mail Open and Distribute (PMOD) by the United States Postal Service^® (USPS). It is a method of drop shipping mail to additional postal entry points using Priority Mail as the shipping method rather than more traditional methods such as truckload, less-than-load (LTL) or air freight. The same service is available using Express Mail Open and Distribute (EMOD), although it is more expensive due to the quicker delivery time (next day service).

Regardless of which level of service is used, Open and Distribute is a pretty nifty way to drop ship to entry points with smaller volumes of mail which make the more traditional shipping methods cost prohibitive. It works by entering the mailpieces at their normal postage prices (e.g. Periodicals, Standard, etc.) and then placing those trays or sacks of mail into Priority Mail sacks for delivery to the postal entry point. By use of special sack tags, these Priority Mail sacks are identified to the USPS as containing drop shipped mail, which the USPS then opens and distributes the sacks inside as they would normally be routed. The Priority Mail postage is paid on the weight of the mail inside the PM sack (and tare weight of the sacks/trays inside the PM sack), and essentially replaces the shipping charges that would have been charged by freight carriers if the more traditional shipping methods had been used.

In years past, this process was a real pain because this mail had to be manually separated, manually tagged with the PMOD tags, and postage statements were manually generated. Now, however, there are software solutions that allow these functions to be automated to the point that it is much more time and cost effective to use PMOD.

How can mailers take advantage of PMOD? There are three major benefits to using PMOD:

1) If you are experiencing delivery delays to remote or distant locations (e.g. Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico), or any location for that matter, PMOD can be a great way to shorten the delivery time. Priority Mail has delivery standards of 2-3 days, so the mail gets entered into the postal entry points much more quickly than if the mail was locally entered at the printing plant or letter shop.

• 2) You can take advantage of drop ship discounts even for entry points with low mailing densities, such as Butte, MT or Fargo, ND.
• 3) You can mail at the less expensive Standard rates, but get very close to First-Class delivery standards if you use PMOD to drop ship to additional entry points.

Your mailings can be easily analyzed to determine whether PMOD will be beneficial for you to use. Using a mail.dat file, you can process this file through post-presort mail.dat management software in a “quick plan” mode. This will allow you to see all the possible drop ship entry points for which your mailing would qualify. You can then go a step further by applying freight charges to the entry points with significant mail volumes. Any entry points with small volumes can then be exported into PMOD software to determine the estimated cost of PMOD shipping.

If you do not have post-presort mail.dat management software, you can ask your printer/mailer to perform these analyses for you, or you can contact a provider of this type of software to request a demo or trial of the software. If you have been hesitant to use PMOD in the past due to implementation concerns, or if you are completely new to PMOD, you owe it to yourself and your company to check out the possibilities of this great USPS program.

Are you trying to work with eDocs, PostalOne!, Mail.dat or Mail.XML files, Do you need to improve your method of accounting of permits, postage and and meters? Are you needing educational information on USPS TEM, Electronic Mail Acceptance and Entry? Have you ever tried using Priority Mail Open Distribute (PMOD) to make an “In-Home-Date” and reduce postage costs? Did you know you don’t have to pay up front postage for Return Merchandise Labels, you can use a permit! Did you know there is International Commercial USPS Rates – Pricing available. Are you considering switching from optional procedures to Manifest Mailing? PUB 401? Are you trying to work with eDocs, PostalOne!, Mail.dat or Mail.XML files? Do you need to improve your method of accounting of permits,  Would you like to know how to shave hours of your day with self populating mailing and financial reports?

Window Book is hosting a ‘Software User Seminar’ on August 4-5, 2009 where you can meet our staff in person and get expert tips on how to better use your program.

Please join us to discover all the new features available for your Window Book software.

Sending eDocs via PostalOne! Mail.dat or Mail.XML
FAST Web Services and Mail.XML for drop shipping
Generating reports to track postage, permits, clients & jobs
Electronic Round Date Grp. ID Stamp (Fall 2009)
How to optimize Freight Planning and Drop Shipping
Priority Mail Open and Distribute Cost/Savings Analysis

Register for your ‘Software User Seminar’ hosted by Window Book, Inc.
Learn all the updated and new software functionalities
Work towards your certificate as a program user
Learn about new service offerings: Postal Concierge & Mailing Services
Day One Everything and anything new – improved – underutilized with DAT-MAIL^TM, PPP^TM and other software
Day Two Advanced users and One-on-one breakouts

When: Tuesday, August 4th, 2009, 8am-5pm
           Wednesday, August 5th, 2009, 9am-1pm
Where: Holiday Inn Willowbrook, Chicago, IL
Registration fee: $60.00 per person / Discounted rate of $50 per person for 3 or more attendees same company
Register now

Hotel Information:
Holiday Inn Chicago-Willowbrook-Hinsdale
7800 South Kingery Hwy, Willowbrook, IL 60527
ph: 630-325-6400 | Fax: 630-325-2362
Rates: $98.00 SIG/$109.00 DBL
Group Code: WindowBook
Deadline for Registration: Thu, 7/30/09

Note:
1. You will receive an Attendance Certificate for your participation. Hour(s) will be credited towards becoming a Certified WBI Software User. 2. Registration Fee is non-refundable but may be applied towards future seminars. This is your great opportunity to sharpen your skills and identify your specific needs for your company! Please email us at mailto:postalspecialist@windowbook.com?subject=Join%20Us%20at%20the%20Window%20Book%20Software%20User%20Seminar if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

J. Jeffery Peoples
CEO & Founder
Window Book, Inc.