Mailing Systems Technology - May/June 2008 - (Page 24)

Trends Mail& address quality Using the Intelligent Mail Barcode to optimize your mailing lists By Dave Lewis Intelligent O ne of the most signiﬁcant challenges facing the Postal Service and the mailing industry today is accurate addressing. Reducing the amount of forwarded mail has been a major goal since 1997, and those eﬀorts will be expanded considerably in the coming years. Now, Intelligent Mail through the Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB) is making it easier. In October 2007, OneCode ACS using the IMB became available for all classes of mail. That means that mailers can have better address quality, electronic updates on addresses and can begin relaying address information in a barcode instead of the old endorsement lines. In November 2008, the Postal Service will extend move update requirements in place now for discounted First-Class Mail to virtually all classes of mail so mailers will also have statutory reasons to get their addresses in shape. Intelligent Address Services Available from USPS After taking care of the basics in address quality — CASS and maybe NCOALINK — using the IMB adds a number of additional address enhancements. IMB Conﬁrm will identify many instances of forwarded and returned mail that you can use to update your list, and OneCode ACS gives you the latest move information based on your live mail at a reasonable cost paid only on nondeliverable mail. OneCode ACS will catch any changes that may have been made since the last NCOALINK update. Prior to the introduction of OneCode ACS, ACS subscribers used alphanumeric key lines that identiﬁed the subscriber and the speciﬁc record for the address. Today, OneCode ACS subscribers can use the new barcode, the Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB), to identify the subscriber and receive electronic address corrections only — no manual corrections. The electronic corrections are very inexpensive — the postal fee is only two cents per correction on Standard Mail, and free on First-Class. (There may be higher fees if a mailer continues to use the old address.) Two Styles of Corrections OneCode ACS allows for two kinds of address correction services: Address Service and Change Service. Fundamentally, Address Service provides for the forwarding of the mailpiece while sending ACS data to the subscriber, while with Change Service, the mailpiece is discarded, again, with ACS data being sent. Address Service has traditionally been associated with the ancillary endorsement “Address Service Requested.” With Address Service, the mail will generally be forwarded or returned, and change of address (COA) information or reason for nondelivery will be sent electronically. For First-Class Mail, this is all usually done at no charge, so it often makes sense, as long as you want the piece forwarded. For Standard Mail, the piece may be forwarded for no charge when Address Service is requested, but if the piece is returned, there is a risk you will pay a substantial fee for the returned mail. We do not generally recommend Address Service for Standard Mail unless you have a high conﬁdence of delivery or there is high value to getting a piece back. Change Service has traditionally been associated with the ancillary endorsement “Change 24 MAY-JUNE 2008 | WWW.MAILINGSYSTEMSTECHNOLOGY.COM http://www.mailsystemstechnology.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Mailing Systems Technology - May/June 2008

Mailing Systems Technology - May/June 2008 Contents Editor’s Note Peer to Peer It’s an Inside Job Greening Your Mail Center Adopting an Automated Document Factory Intelligent Mail and Address Quality 7 Steps to Combat “Do Not Mail” A Successful Resolution Q&A with Dan G. Blair, Chairman, Postal Regulatory Commission The Intelligent Mail Barcode Developing High-Performance Teams Simple Strategies to Save You Money A Powerful Social Network With Change, Comes Opportunity Increasing the Deliverability of Mail Kate’s Slate Products & Services People of Distinction Advertiser Index Sho Time

Mailing Systems Technology - May/June 2008

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