PCC Insider

Our business mail experts are your business mail experts. And they’re coming soon to a Postal Customer Council (PCC) near you through our new customer outreach program.

Customer Outreach Program Trainer Cher Rupp-Ruggeri, a senior classification support specialist from Business Mail Acceptance, highlights how BME employees can search the Domestic Mail Manual online using Postal Explorer at pe.usps.gov.

At recent PCC focus group sessions, you told us that you wanted to see more involvement from our business mail employees at local PCC events. Our new Business Mail Entry Customer Outreach Program is all about meeting the needs of our business customers.

The outreach program will make sure our business mail entry (BME) employees have the tools and training they need to communicate current or pending business mailing standards and policy changes, provide mail quality improvement advice, locate accurate and complete mailing information, and provide for more consistent rulings for our customers.

As part of the program, employees at business mail entry units are encouraged to participate in local PCC events that bring together business mailers and Postal Service representatives to discuss and resolve local mailing issues and develop education programs. These BME employees include mailpiece design analysts, mailing requirements specialists and mailing standards specialists. They’ll work with local PCCs to develop topics for discussion and provide information regarding current and upcoming changes in mailing standards. Most important, they’ll get out and meet customers to talk to them about their business mailing needs. At the Postal Service, we recognize that service to our customers is the reason we’re in business and it’s up to us to value and nurture these important relationships.

Coming soon: We’re developing a new business mail acceptance page on the Rapid Information Bulletin Board System (RIBBS) at http://ribbs.usps.gov. For information on the National PCC Network or your local PCC, visit http://www.usps.com/nationalpcc.

Shining The Spotlight On PCCs

National PCC Day on Sept. 19 honors the important role of PCCs in helping to keep America’s mailing industry strong. As one of the most important mailing industry events of the year, it will feature a keynote address by Postmaster General John Potter and the participation of many postal executives.

“With more than 200 PCCs and 100,000 members, the Postal Service is committed to its partnership with PCCs throughout the country,” says Susan Plonkey, vice president of Customer Service for the Postal Service.

PCC members can expect to hear about USPS plans to enhance the partnership with PCCs, like the new Business Mail Entry Customer Outreach Program detailed in this issue of PCC Insider.

Nearly every PCC across the nation will be hosting an event to celebrate “America’s Partnership.” Log on to the National PCC Network at www.usps.com/pcc to learn about activities in your community.

Desktop Shipping Clicks With Customers

Create accurately addressed labels for all mail service types, ship packages domestic and international, compare rates, calculate estimated delivery times, verify deliveries and request free next-delivery-day Carrier Pickup.

That’s the beauty of Shipping Assistant, downloadable on the Postal Service website at www.usps.com. The latest version, Shipping Assistant 3.1, offers you more ways to take care of your mailing needs without leaving the office.

Shipping Assistant stores all previously created labels for up to 120 days so it’s easy to recreate a label, or generate a Merchandise Return Service label from a previously created label record without having to re-enter the address or package details.

With Shipping Assistant, you can verify and add the recipient’s address to the address book with the click of a mouse. Shipping Assistant enables a retailer to provide a customer with a Merchandise Return Service return shipping label (i.e., from customer to retailer) with postage due only when a package is returned. A retailer must have a USPS Postage Due Account to use the Merchandise Return Service. Shipping Assistant will soon enable customers to receive an extract file up to 16 times per day.

You can learn more about Shipping Assistant 3.1 and download this latest version at www.usps.com/shippingassistant. It makes shipping easy so you can focus on building your business.

More Flexibility For Reusable Envelopes

A Postal Service change in the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) allows more flexibility for reusable envelopes, reflecting the agency’s commitment to helping protect the environment and save resources.

A company called ecoenvelopes developed a reusable envelope design that gives mailers more flexibility for printing, distributing and mailing reusable envelopes. To facilitate this new design, the Postal Service worked with the company to change a DMM requirement that prohibited the placement of a facing identification mark (FIM) on the front (address) side of window reusable envelopes. Changing this requirement paved the way for a cost effective, simple-to-use solution that eliminates the need for a separate reply mail envelope and helps to conserve precious resources.

Prior to the change, mailers were required to place the FIM on the reverse side of a reusable envelope, which limited the design and use of a window reusable envelope. DMM sections 601.6.5 and 708.9.1 were revised to allow the use of a FIM on the address side of window reusable envelopes. Since permit imprint mailings do not pass through facer-canceler operations, the placement of a FIM on the address side of a reusable envelope does not affect processing operations.

Ecoenvelopes’ design for the originating mailpiece requires the permit imprint indicia to be printed on the insert and displayed to the right of the address block through a glassine window. The appropriate FIM (A or C) is printed on the actual envelope.

When the return method is Business Reply Mail, the address block, barcode, legend, horizontal bars and No Postage Necessary indicia all appear through the same glassine window. With Courtesy Reply Mail, the return address and barcode are displayed through the window and the postage is affixed to the envelope as usual.

WHAT'S UP

The Facility Access and Shipment Tracking (FAST) system will begin deploying Mailer Rating nationally on Aug. 18 at FAST/Surface Visibility-enabled sites. The three-month phased deployment will begin in the Western Area, following a successful pilot program at selected postal facilities.

Mailer Rating improves the drop shipment appointment process for Standard Mail and Package Services customers. Pure Periodicals appointments are not rated. If you have questions or concerns about the Mailer Rating deployment, send an e-mail to fast@usps.com.

FAST for Periodicals is coming! Beginning Sept. 4, Periodicals mailers must submit appointments in FAST. The appointment number should be on PS Form 8125, Plant-Verified Drop Shipment (PVDS) Verification and Clearance, as soon as you are able to comply. You can obtain a Scheduler ID by registering for FAST in PostalOne! Go to fast.usps.com. Without logging in, you can click on Resources then Reference Documents and download the PostalOne! customer registration job aid.

After Sept. 4, Periodicals mailers who arrive at a postal facility without an appointment will be accepted after Periodicals mailers who have an appointment. Note: This does not apply to Standard Mail and/or Package Services customers.

The Postal Service has filed a request with the Postal Regulatory Commission to make the successful Premium Forwarding Service (PFS) experiment permanent. PFS lets residential customers reship virtually all of their mail from their permanent address to a temporary address once a week by Priority Mail.

PFS will continue to be available without a change in price. Details are available on the commission’s website at www.prc.gov. Click Contents, Pending Cases and Matters, then MC2007-3.

SPOTLIGHT ON SUCCESS

Five New York PCCs joined forces to deliver a winning experience for mailers at the PCC Mail and Technology Expo in Saratoga Springs, NY, home of the fabled Saratoga Racetrack. Industry and postal representatives from PCCs in the Albany District – Capital Region, Central New York, Mohawk Valley, Southern Tier and Northern Tier – offered their time, services and staff to makes calls to vendors, design and print direct mail pieces, and create a website dedicated to the event.

The team effort showed impressive results. More than 300 people attended the June 8 expo, which included a keynote address by USPS Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President Anita Bizzotto as well as a full day of networking, classes and motivational speakers. There were education sessions on advertising with direct mail, pricing changes, address management, the Intelligent Mail barcode and tabletop technology. An exhibit hall featured 40 vendor booths.

And that special website designed for the expo? Before the event it gave recognition to sponsors, updated exhibitor rosters, detailed breakout session on postal topics, and provided user-friendly registration and vendor packages. Now? The site at www.pcc-expo.com provides a photo gallery of the day’s events. Win. Place. Show!

August 2007

FRONT PAGE

Business Mail Experts Are Coming!

Shining The Spotlight On PCCs

Desktop Shipping Clicks With Customers

More Flexibility For Reusable Envelopes

WHAT'S UP

SPOTLIGHT ON SUCCESS