Ten Reasons Why Mailers Should Delay
Implementing the
Full Service Intelligent Mail® barcode
– By
Mary Ann Bennett
1.
Mailers will need to spend
money to participate in the Full Service Intelligent Mail program and it
provides them with no ROI benefit.
The current incentives are very low ($3/m – 1st class and $1/m –
Standard class) and may go away in the future. www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-09-599
Until
at least May 2011 (possibly November of 2011), automation postage discounts will
be granted for mailings with POSTNET barcodes and the basic Intelligent Mail
barcode.
2.
Passing performance
verification testing by MERLIN at
the time of mail acceptance does not
preclude the possibility of automation discounts being taken later if errors
are found with the information embedded in the Intelligent Mail barcode.
“Samples
from the mailing are processed on MERLIN and evaluated for mail preparation
including presort and barcode readability quality.” 1 “The
Postage Discount No Mailer Wants” readability
quality.” 1 “The Postage
Discount No Mailer Wants”
http://deadtreeedition.blogspot/2009/11/postage-dicsount-no-mailer-wants.html
It is not known how many MERLIN
installations have been updated to handle the additional software needed to
process Intelligent Mail barcoded mail. MERLIN will need to not only check the
physical characteristics of the barcode (print contrast ratio, tilt, and skew
etc.) but it also will need to be able to look up the address information, and
verify the mailpiece has the most current address for the addressee. http://ribbs.usps.gov/intelligentmail_latestnews/documents/tech_guides/merlin/MERLINRPT.pdf
3.
The Intelligent Mail barcode is
not human readable and it will be necessary to purchase scanner equipment to read and
interpret the data embedded in the barcode.
4.
Currently, there are no PAVE
testing requirements by the USPS to certify that software vendors are
correctly producing and correctly embedding data in the Intelligent Mail
barcode. Within the Intelligent Mail barcode, the Routing Code is meant to
contain ZIP Code data if it is being populated. Postal rules deem acceptable, a
wide latitude of data for the Intelligent Mail barcode’s Routing Code including
a 5-digit ZIP Code or no ZIP Code at all. By comparison, the POSTNET barcode can
not be generated without a valid delivery point ZIP Code. With ‘anything goes’
data permitted in the Routing Code, even addresses failing the ZIP+4 DPV
encoding process produce an Intelligent Mail barcode that appears to be
perfectly acceptable. https://ribbs.usps.gov/intelligentmail_mailpieces/documents/tech_guides/getstrtd/USPSIMB_Getting_Started.pdf
This wide latitude of acceptable data adds to the problem of the mailer having
no idea by visual inspection what data is embedded in the Intelligent Mail
barcode.
5.
Additional software or
enhancements of current software will need to be purchased that produces the
additional barcoding requirements for Intelligent Mail pieces, Intelligent Mail
trays and Intelligent Mail containers. Each piece, tray and container must have
unique Serial numbers that are not reused for 45 days from time of mailing
acceptance.
6.
Postage statements must be
submitted electronically through PostalOne! The GAO has concerns over
the safety and reliability of the USPS to protect your security and money. The
preferred method to submit electronic postage statements requires the purchase and licensing of
software Mail.dat. This software has yearly licensing fees. An additional
concern surrounding the electronic submission of Postage Statements, is the fact
that several mailers are experiencing
hours of processing time to submit electronic files. The USPS has released
no information regarding its computer capability upgrades to handle the volume
of processing needed to process electronic postage statements. http://www.presort.com/?p=230
http://ribbs.usps.gov/intelligentmail_latestnews/documents/tech_guides/PostalOneCriticalIssueExtCustomers.pdf
The USPS’ PostalOne! system
crash experienced by mailers from Friday, February 5, 2010 to Tuesday, February
9, 2010 demonstrates that concern about the reliability of this system is well
founded. Also the lack of a real contingency plan to compensate for this
system’s outages adds to the concern for mailers. From the February 12, 2010
PostCom Bulletin 06-10 “When the Postal Service’s systems crash, it has a
significant and costly impact on the mailers’ ability to prepare and enter
mail.” http://www.postcom.org/
7.
All Intelligent Mail barcode
mailings must be scheduled through the FAST system for drop-off appointment
times to their postal facility. Delays have been reported with the access to the
FAST system to schedule appointments. http://www.presort.com/?p=230
8.
If acceptance issues require
rework of a mailing, with the service type id embedded within the barcode
representing the class of mail, pieces could require additional presorting and
repackaging as well as replacement of the barcode.
9.
Postal acceptance personnel
inducting Intelligent Mail barcode mailings need training and familiarity
with new Intelligent Mail barcode mailing procedures. http://www.presort.com/?p=230
10. Programs
such as ACS and Confirm with the Intelligent Mail barcode have USPS
costs (they are not free as the USPS
would like you to think) associated with their use. Vendor supplied software or services must
be purchased to interpret that data returned from these
programs.
1 New Barcode Readability Standards http://ribbs.usps.gov/index.cfm?page=intellmaillatestnews
This information is accurate as
of February 15, 2010. The issue of
implementation of the Intelligent Mail Barcode is very fluid and we suggest that
you regularly visit the sites referenced in this document for the most “current”
information.
Revised February 17, 2010
Document link in #2 updated to give proper accreditation.
Mary
Ann Bennett is President/CEO of The
Bennett Group, Inc., a mailing training and consulting firm and is founder of
the Mailing Training Institute located in Rochester, NY. She can be reached at
1- 585-424-2702