May 21, 2008

SMARTER THAN YOUR AVERAGE BARCODE

Intelligent Mail Barcode Does It All

“Simply put, the Intelligent Mail barcode is all about one thing — adding value to the mail.”

With that, Tom Day, senior vice president of Intelligent Mail and Address Quality for the Postal Service, kicked off the Intelligent Mail barcode (IMB) symposium at the National Postal Forum. The interest in IMB was overwhelming. With 600 in attendance, customers were literally turned away at the door. An additional 350 came to a second session added on Tuesday.

Given what IMB can do, it’s no wonder mailers were lining up to learn more about it. The new barcode will consolidate a number of endorsements into a single line of digital information to handle sortation, address correction and tracking.

When IMB is implemented in May 2009, mailers will be able to choose from two options, Basic and Full Service. The Basic option requires the essential elements of an IMB — service code, mailer ID and the delivery point code.

Full Service has all the elements of Basic plus a unique identity on each mailpiece. In addition, Full Service combines this individual mail identity with aggregate information for primary containers such as trays, tubs and sacks. The data from the primary containers is attributed to secondary containers such as pallets.

The data from individual mailpieces and primary and secondary containers will be submitted by customers via electronic documentation. The result is the ability to scan an Intelligent Mail container barcode to know what mail is inducted and scans of individual mailpieces as they are being processed to provide greater visibility and mail quality feedback.

Scanning mail at entry is key to adding value to the mail. Full Service IMB provides free access to customers to “start-the-clock” — a new feature that gives customers a heads-up as their mail enters the mail stream. Free address correction information is included as well.

Now that’s adding value to the mail.

FLAT-OUT INCREDIBLE

Flats Sequencing System Will Deliver High-Impact Efficiency

In the 1990s, automation revolutionized the way the Postal Service sorted letter-sized mail. In 2008, the Flats Sequencing System (FSS) is going to do the same thing for even bigger envelopes, magazines and catalogs.

USPS unveiled the FSS to mailers at this year’s NPF.

“The FSS is going to be one of the biggest improvements in mail processing that the Postal Service has seen in years,” said FSS Executive Director Rosa Fulton. “And because it will be able to read the Intelligent Mail barcode, it will provide business mailers with greater visibility of the Postal Service’s distribution and delivery network.”

Senior Vice President of Operations Bill Galligan said “I don’t think there’s anything on the Postal Service horizon that will deliver high-impact efficiency like the FSS can and will.”

How high impact? FSS technology can delivery point sequence flat mail at a rate of 16,500 pieces an hour. Each FSS machine will run for approximately 17 hours a day, sequencing 280,500 flats to more than 125,000 delivery addresses. One hundred FSS systems will be installed at 32 processing facilities over the next two years.

IT’S A GLOBAL THING

Business Partnerships Pay Worldwide Dividends

Global business sessions at the NPF were designed to help mailers improve their reach into new global markets.

USPS Global Business Managing Director and Senior Vice President Paul Vogel told attendees that the weak U.S. dollar is making it increasingly attractive for customers — both businesses and consumers — to purchase in the United States and ship internationally. Partnerships that the Postal Service has established with other postal agencies around the world can lay the foundations for U.S. mailers and shippers to build their own international partnerships.

“When national posts form partnerships, the benefits extend to customers in both countries through pricing flexibility, innovative customer solutions and transparency from origin to destination,” said Vogel.”