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Legal Eagles

Postal Service launches legal-sized envelopes for expedited services

The Postal Service now offers the perfect fit for those important legal-size documents that need to get to their destination fast. New legal-sized envelopes for Express Mail and Priority Mail give attorneys, financial professionals, real estate agents and other mailers new expedited delivery options.

The new Express Mail envelope allows legal-sized papers — no folding necessary — to be sent anywhere in the United States for the lowest price of any guaranteed overnight service. The new Priority Mail envelope provides two-day delivery to most locations for legal-sized documents at an even lower price.

Unlike envelopes from other carriers, Express Mail and Priority Mail can be delivered to mailboxes, mail slots and PO Boxes, making it the most secure option for those documents. Express Mail and Priority Mail also have no fuel surcharges, and Saturday delivery is at no additional charge as well.

“These new envelopes deliver an extraordinary value — they give our customers world-class speed and service and the security of the mail, all at very competitive prices,” said Gary Reblin, vice president of Expedited Mail for the Postal Service.

The new envelope sizes are part of the Postal Service's ongoing focus on enhancing shipping services. There are several flat-rate package options as well as competitive zone-based prices, online discounts and volume rebates. Later this year there will be a new letter-sized Express Mail envelope. The envelope, designed for use by commercial mailers with automated mailing equipment, provides easy access to any size mailbox for time-sensitive documents.  

Both of the new legal-sized envelopes can be used for either domestic or international mailing, and they meet the highest independent standards for recycling and environmental soundness. You can order Express Mail and Priority Mail envelopes online at usps.com, and they also will be available at select Post Offices later this year.

Prices for the new legal-sized envelopes are based on weight and delivery zone. A shipping calculator is available at http://postcalc.usps.gov/.

Starting The Clock

Helping you prepare for the new Move Update requirements

The Move Update clock is ticking. Don’t forget the 95-day processing requirements for new standards that are coming. While the standards take effect Nov. 23, to be ready, mailers must begin using addresses that were updated within the previous 95 days.

For example, a mailing entered on Nov. 23 must bear addresses that were updated no earlier than Aug. 20.

The Move Update standards provide options for customers to reduce the number of mailpieces that require forwarding, return or being treated as waste by the periodic matching of address records with customer-filed change-of-address orders.

The new standards will result in better address quality by removing incorrectly addressed pieces from subsequent mailings, which in turn will reduce undeliverable-as-addressed mail.

Check back frequently to the National PCC website at usps.com/pcc for updated information and to learn more about the new requirements and different authorized methods for Move Update.

Top Of The Mailpiece World

New address standards for commercial flat-size mail

Are you mailing presorted, carrier route or automation flat-size mail? A new PCC Workshop-in-a-Box will help you prepare for the changes that take effect next March. New mailing standards will require minimum type sizes and new character spacing, and the delivery address must appear near the top of the mailpiece.

The new workshop presentation explains each of these changes and how they apply to catalogs, magazines and large envelopes mailed at First-Class Mail, Periodicals, Standard Mail and Package Services prices. You’ll learn about the options available and walk through the new address placement standards in four easy steps. You will also find answers to frequently asked questions and resources for more information, or get help with specific mailpiece designs.

The new standards ensure accurate sorting, delivery and redirection. They will enable high-speed processing, minimize service delays and increase efficiency.

PCCs will be receiving a DVD featuring this latest Workshop-in-a-Box later this month.

Flats Sequencing Milestone

First production Flats Sequencing System being installed at Virginia facility

The future of flats sequencing is arriving — by the truckload. The first production Flats Sequencing System currently is being installed in a newly completed expansion space at the Dulles, VA, Processing and Distribution Center.

The first of 50 tractor-trailers carrying FFS hardware arrived at the facility last month, marking the beginning of an installation process expected to be completed in early July.

Northern Virginia District Manager Mike Furey praised the contribution of the prototype FSS system currently in operation at Dulles. “We’re looking forward to the increased capacity that the first production FSS equipment will bring,” he said.

The Dulles facility will receive its next two production FSS systems this fall. It eventually will house four of the systems that will improve the processing of large envelopes, magazines and catalogs.

FSS automatically sorts flat-sized mail into delivery point sequence at high speeds, and because it can read the Intelligent Mail barcode, business mailers will be provided with greater visibility of the Postal Service’s distribution and delivery network.

WHAT'S UP

USPS Professional Certificates

Did you earn a USPS professional certificate at the recent National Postal Forum in Anaheim, CA? The forum featured 13 professional certificate programs. Topics included quality addressing, targeted mail marketing, Intelligent Mail, nonprofit mailers, mail center manager and more. If you met the requirements for a certificate, go to the NPF website at npf.org to provide information. Deadline is July 31. Allow three to six weeks for delivery of your certificate.

Sticking Around

Repositionable notes are now a permanent Postal Service offering. The 3-inch-square sticky notes can be placed on the outside of commercial First-Class Mail, Periodicals and Standard Mail cards, letters, flats, catalogs, magazines and newspapers. The notes can be peeled off and placed elsewhere — computer, refrigerator, car dashboard — allowing your advertising message to stick around long after the mailpiece is opened. For more information, go to the Postal Service website at: http://www.usps.com/repositionablenotes/welcome.htm.

Exceptional Encore

The Postal Service’s international mail facility in Chicago has earned its second consecutive certificate of excellence award from the International Post Corporation. The J.T. Weeker International Service Center received its first IPC certification in 2004, becoming the first USPS facility to do so. All five USPS international centers have since received certificates of excellence, making the United States the only nation with its entire international mail processing network to be IPC-certified.

The other U.S. centers are in New York, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Certificates are awarded to international facilities that demonstrate top levels of quality, efficiency, teamwork and communications.

FYI…

The Intelligent Mail barcode was one of the hottest topics at the NPF. If you couldn’t make it to the forum, you don’t have to miss out on the great information. PCCs will be receiving a DVD featuring presentations from Intelligent Mail symposiums held earlier this year. Ask your local PCC to schedule a showing and hear how Intelligent Mail drives improvements in service and efficiency and adds value to mail.

SPOTLIGHT ON SUCCESS

Eco-friendly Direct Mail Delivers Results

“Greening” the mail is more than just paying attention to the paper, inks and coatings customers use for mailings. Attendees at the “Direct and Green” symposium at the National Postal Forum learned there are other ways they can make their mail more environmentally friendly.

The symposium featured an appearance by actor and environmental advocate Ed Begley Jr., who praised USPS efforts — “packaging made out of highly recycled content and less toxic inks, the incredible fleet you have of alternative-fuel vehicles, and the way you’re greening up buildings with better lighting and making them more energy efficient,” he said. “You can do it — everyone can do it.”

Greening mailing lists can do much to reduce the amount of undeliverable-as-addressed mail. Merge and purge mailing lists often to remove invalid names and addresses. Clean, up-to-date mailing lists produce fewer mailpieces and use less paper, ink and energy.

Also, seek alternate printing and production partners. USPS suggests using printers near the letter shop or mail house to minimize transportation, which reduces costs and uses less fuel, and taking advantage of print-on-demand technology instead of warehousing large quantities until they’re needed.

“Green direct mail is more than just eco-friendly papers and inks,” said the Postal Service’s Sustainability Vice President Sam Pulcrano. “We're encouraged that marketers are taking a broader environmental responsibility by partnering with companies that are working to alter the entire direct mail process for the better.”

KEEPING POSTED

2008

• Long Island PCC holds its annual mailing conference June 24 in Melville, NY. Hundreds of business professionals from Long Island are expected to attend the conference, which will include workshop sessions and an industry exhibition hall. For more information go to longislandpcc.com.
• National PCC Day is Sept. 17. The Greater St. Louis PCC will host the main event featuring a national satellite broadcast.

INFO@USPS

Your Links To Mailing Resources

U.S. Postal Service: usps.com

National PCC Network: usps.com/pcc

Rapid Information Bulletin Board System: ribbs.usps.gov

Questions? Comments? Send an e-mail to pccinsider@usps.gov

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