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APRIL 2007 CONTENTS: FRONT PAGE • Postmaster General Delivers NPF Keynote • Flat Mail Gets Smart • Building The International Shipping Market WHAT'S UP SPOTLIGHT ON SUCCESS KEEPING POSTED INFO@USPS |
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FRONT PAGE Postmaster General Delivers NPF Keynote Potter urges mailers to help shape Postal Service for 21st century 
With new pricing and the new postal law, "we're living in a new world," Postmaster General John E. Potter told the National Postal Forum (NPF). He urges the mailing community to work together to build a Postal Service that serves customers better than ever."Dialogue is the key if we're going to successfully navigate new roads that have barely been mapped," he says. "Working as a team, nothing can stand in our way." About 7,000 people attended the mailing industry's premier trade show last month in Washington, DC. "We want to work with you to lower your costs so you stay in the mail," he says. Potter urges mailers to be creative in shaping their mail and to take advantage of work sharing discounts. Innovation in the industry, such as the Intelligent Mail Barcode and Flats Sequencing System, will help build a stronger future, Potter says, and he remains "bullish" on the mail. "Mail gets attention," he says. "No other medium is so personal. No other medium is so relevant. And no other medium can tap into your individual interests, or needs, like the mail. That makes it welcome. There's nothing like it." Potter's NPF speech is available online at usps.com. Flat Mail Gets Smart Intelligent Mail Barcode expands to flat mail in May Beginning May 1, the Intelligent Mail Barcode will be available for flat mail.  Mailers can receive the discount for using the Intelligent Mail Barcode alone to sort all classes of mail or with select mail classes using Intelligent Mail services OneCode Confirm and OneCode ACS (Address Change Service). OneCode Confirm will be available for flats on First-Class Mail, Standard Mail and Periodicals. OneCode ACS will be available for flats on First-Class Mail and Periodicals. OneCode ACS for Standard Mail flats will be available in the fall. "The Intelligent Mail process is fully automated," says USPS Intelligent Mail and Address Quality Senior Vice President Charlie Bravo. "Customers are using the Intelligent Mail Barcode for letters with much success. Scan rates are very high. Our customers tell us that the barcode is making their mailings more efficient giving them more visibility into the mailstream. They also appreciate the greater data capacity for their own coding purposes. We expect our flat mailers to be just as happy." USPS introduced the Intelligent Mail Barcode — formerly called the 4-State Customer Barcode — for letter mail in September 2006. To learn more about it, including the full specification, visit the RIBBS Web site at ribbs.usps.gov/OneCodeSolution/. Building The International Shipping Market New Global Business team offers customized business solutions The Postal Service has launched a new Global Business group to help mailers expand their international reach through customized, flexible international shipping solutions — and increase the Postal Service's $1.9 billion annual share of the international shipping market at the same time. "The U.S. Postal Service is known for keeping America connected, but we really are a global company," says USPS Global Business Managing Director and Senior Vice President Paul Vogel. "We deliver nearly half of the world's mail and our international networks reach every country on the globe." Vogel says the time is right for international expansion. In addition to extensive market analysis, the new team consulted with customers, integrators, consolidators and national posts around the world, and built the Global Business group to be responsive. Vogel says the Postal Service will build on its domestic successes in work sharing, discounts and outsourcing and apply them to the international market. The new Global Business team consolidates all postal international efforts into one unit — operations, transportation, finance, planning, information technology, account management and postal relations — making it easier for customers to work with the Postal Service for both inbound and outbound international shipping. WHAT'S UP Proposed New Standards For Periodicals The Postal Service has proposed revisions to the Periodicals (magazine and newspaper) portion of its mailing standards that will accompany new Periodicals pricing. Periodical mailers will have new incentives to use efficient containers and bundles, and copalletization — merging bundles from separate publications or titles on the same pallet — becomes a permanent offering to encourage more publishers to combine mailings. The Postal Service also is adding new prices for the editorial portion of a mailing to give mailers of publications with high editorial content access to lower destination-entry rates. The proposed revised standards are published at www.usps.com/ratecase. This site also contains rate charts and other helpful information for mailers, including frequently asked questions and articles related to the pricing change. The Postal Service is seeking comments on the new standards for Periodicals. Written comments can be sent to the Manager, Mailing Standards, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L'Enfant Plaza, SW, Room 3436, Washington, DC 20260-3436. Comments must be received by April 25. While most Postal Service price changes and new mailing standards will go into effect May 14 (including the 41-cent price for First-Class Mail stamps), the Postal Service Board of Governors delayed the implementation of new Periodical prices and mailing standards until July 15. The delay will give mailers and the Postal Service more time to prepare for the new pricing structure recommended by the Postal Regulatory Commission. Get Your Information Download You've got options when it comes to getting information about the pricing changes ahead. A special edition of the Postal Bulletin includes new domestic and international rate tables and summaries of changes to domestic and international mail services. You can find the Postal Bulletin at: http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/bulletin/2007/pb22203a.pdf Also, the March/April edition of MailPro is dedicated to providing mailers with information about the changes to domestic and international mail. Want to subscribe to MailPro, a free USPS publication for mailing professionals? E-mail your request to mncsc@usps.com. MTAC/USPS Flats Symposium The Postal Service and the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee are sponsoring a Flats Symposium May 17 in Washington, DC, and you're invited. This is your opportunity to get an update on the vision for the future of flats processing that includes the new Flats Sequencing System (FSS), the machine that will delivery point sequence flats. Mailing industry and USPS representatives will discuss issues related to the implementation of FSS. Gain an understanding about what your organization needs to do to get ready for the new world of flats processing. Have an opportunity to ask questions and provide input related to the implementation of the flats vision. Topics will include addressing and mailpiece design, mail preparation, mail entry and processing, and pricing implications. Space is limited. Register by May 4 to reserve your seat. Register online at www.uspstracker.com/registration.html. Note-able Extension Request The Postal Service wants to stick with more testing of its Repositionable Notes (RPNs). RPNs are sticky notes that mailers can place on envelopes, catalogs, magazines and newspapers to highlight important information or a special offer. USPS has filed a request with the Postal Regulatory Commission for an extension of the provisional RPN test. Details are available on the commission's Web site at www.prc.gov.  SPOTLIGHT ON SUCCESS Scrub Those Lists! Offering "create a better list" as one of his five tenets of mail, business executive Michael Roth told a National Postal Forum audience that mail delivers. "Mail is an important piece of communicating with the consumer," says Roth, chairman and CEO of the Interpublic Group, one of the world's leading organizations of advertising agencies and marketing services companies. Roth says mail remains one of the most important and financially smart marketing investments a company can make. "What's great about mail is it provides a uniquely measurable medium," he says. Mail takes businesses to the person in charge, reaches consumers at home and provides companies with the ability to target and personalize advertising messages. Roth advises businesses to follow what he describes as the five tenets of mail:
KEEPING POSTED 2007
Your Links To Mailing Resources U.S. Postal Service: www.usps.com National PCC Network: www.usps.com/pcc Rapid Information Bulletin Board System: ribbs.usps.gov Questions? Comments? Send an e-mail to pccinsider@usps.gov Sign up for PCC Insider at www.usps.com/pcc, select "PCC Insider Registration" Back issues: PCC Insider online archive |
