Mailing Systems Technology - July/August 2008 - (Page 18)

into a pouch (usually just a carrier shipping box in practice), the paperwork for shipping the pouch is completed. Basic information (carrier, waybill number) about the pouch is scanned back into the system (Star Receiver), enabling our employees to check on their AIOM when it’s in the pouch as it is moving between the two Sprint sites. The pouch between two sites is handled like any other shipment. Once the pouch is re- ceived at the destination, the items are scanned out of the pouch. Since each piece of accountable interoﬃce mail has an internal waybill, each piece is already addressed and routed for delivery. The items are sorted and then delivered along with all other inbound shipments. Because the entire process is tracked internally, both the sender and recipient can follow the entire process, step-by-step, as the piece is collected from the sender’s mail center, trans- ported to the shipping department, scanned into a pouch, shipped via an external carrier, received at the recipient’s mail center and ﬁnally delivered to the designated recipient. Marketing the Accountable Interofﬁce Mail Service An AIOM service needs to be marketed to employees or it will never be successful. After all, the service is competing against the external carriers that we have already contracted with. How can you compete with overnight carriers? Well, we have to oﬀer (and supply) some beneﬁts to the sender that the carriers can’t oﬀer. As mentioned above, there are two primary beneﬁts. First, the cost of shipping via accountable interoﬃce mail is usually FREE to the sender, since the business services group often pays the full cost of shipping pouches. Second, being able to track a shipment from sender to recipient every step of the way, including the steps internal to your company, is something that no carrier will ever be able to oﬀer. Market to employees in general by techniques including putting up posters in oﬃces, putting information on cafeteria tables, appropriate email notices, and announcing the service on your intranet. Other factors that impact employee perception of the AIOM including the naming and branding of the service. You can also provide indicators of professionalism such as drop boxes for AIOM and even uniforms for couriers. Some organizations have attempted to implement an interoﬃce pouch service by intercepting shipments to other company sites and sending them via pouch. Even if you try to email the sender what you’re doing, this is not a recommended practice. Employees are expecting to track their shipments on the carrier’s website, and when they can’t ﬁnd them, they tend to get upset. This is a not a good way to run an interoﬃce mail service! Train the Mail Center Staff We provided training for our mail center staﬀ at the sites where we had decided to oﬀer the AIOM service. The mail center staﬀ needs to know what the envelopes look like, how to prepare and receive mail pouches and how to answer questions from customers. They also need to understand why you want to implement the service because they can help encourage (or discourage) people from using the service. 18 JULY-AUGUST 2008 | WWW.MAILINGSYSTEMSTECHNOLOGY.COM http://www.bowebellhowell.com/adf http://www.mailingsystemstechnology.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Mailing Systems Technology - July/August 2008

Mailing Systems Technology - July/August 2008 Contents Editor’s Note Peer to Peer The Economics of Inkjet Addressing Virtual Mailstream Management Guarding Your Internal Documents Top It Off With Training Implementing Digital Mail Saving You Money Kate’s Slate Products & Services Advertiser Index Sho Time Who’s Who Company Profiles BCC Software BÖWE BELL + HOWELL Collins Ink Corporation Datatech SmartSoft Endicia Hasler, Inc. Kern, Inc. Kirk-Rudy Mail Quip, Inc. MCS, Inc. Melissa Data MidSouth Technologies, a NPI Company Neopost NPI Parascript Pitney Bowes Inc. Rena Systems Satori Software, Inc.

Mailing Systems Technology - July/August 2008

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