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September 2007

CONTENTS:

  FRONT PAGE

• Power Of Partnership
• New Workshops-In-A-Box
• Next Horizon With CASS Cycle M
• It's Roundup Time!

  WHAT'S UP

  KEEPING POSTED

  INFO@USPS

FRONT PAGE

Power Of Partnership

National PCC Day features national satellite broadcast

When you attend a National PCC Day event next Wednesday, Sept. 19, you’ll hear Postmaster General John Potter discuss the Postal Service’s environmental programs and voting by mail, and share information on technology innovations that include Intelligent Mail and direct mail marketing.

With more than 100,000 members, Postal Customer Councils have an important role in helping the Postal Service add value and make the mail work better for customers. National PCC Day highlights the collaborative nature of this important partnership.

Potter will deliver a keynote address from the Cincinnati, OH, PCC. The speech will be broadcast live by satellite to 200 PCCs across the country beginning at noon ET. Streaming video of the speech will be available at more than 500 postal facilities. Also participating will be Deputy Postmaster General and Chief Operating Officer Pat Donahoe and Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President Anita Bizzotto.

How to view the broadcast:

DISH Network Channel 9601
PSTN Channel 15
Satellite coordinates:
KU: AMC2 – Transponder 8 Downlink (H) 11860 MHz
C: AMC3 – Transponder 3 Downlink (H) 3760

Also expect to see postal executives and managers at many local PCC events.

Be sure to join thousands of your fellow PCC members in celebrating “America’s Partnership.” Go to the National PCC website at usps.com/pcc for more information.

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New Workshops-In-A-Box

Information on advertising strategies, shipping solutions and address quality

New PCC Workshops-in-a-Box now are available to help you build business as well as improve mail quality. These workshops are great educational tools for presentation at PCC meetings.

Innovative Direct Mail Strategies To Grow Your Business
Enhance your overall advertising campaign and help grow your business. Learn about the current media landscape, recent trends in media, industry projections and new innovations in direct mail. Recommended tips will help you make sound business decisions when you use direct mail as part of your multi-channel marketing mix.

International and Domestic Expedited Products
Giving customers a Quick, Easy and Convenient method to do business is what makes the Postal Service the shipper of choice for so many business customers.  This presentation explains USPS product and service offerings as well as their specific features and benefits. Learn how USPS shipping solutions can save time and money for your business.  

Addressing & Your Bottom Line — The Big Picture
Gain a competitive edge on the competition by using a comprehensive address quality strategy. Learn how you can improve your bottom line, make better decisions, reach your customers and leverage the effectiveness of your address list by practicing good address quality.

Addressing & Your Bottom Line — It’s Your Money
Get a comprehensive look at how the Postal Service’s address quality products and services can help to improve your bottom line. Learn how to cut your mailing costs, speed delivery and enhance your sales. Discover how “undeliverable-as-addressed” mail impacts your business. “It’s your money, don’t throw it away!”

Also, three National PCC Day workshops also are available online — Flats Sequencing System (FSS), Powering Up Your Business with Intelligent Mail and The Value of Mail.

All workshops are available for download from the PCC Education link at www.usps.com/pcc.

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Next Horizon With CASS Cycle M

Looking ahead to next level of address quality

With the Aug. 1 implementation of CASS Cycle L complete, now is the time to start looking to the next big opportunity for improvements in address quality.   

The address quality tools and services in CASS Cycle M will help you further clean up your address list, cut your mailing cost, increase speed of delivery and reduce undeliverable-as-addressed mail. Connect more efficiently and effectively with your customers and ultimately increase your response and ROI using address quality tools from the Postal Service. The new Suite^Link product and the Intelligent Mail barcode are key components of CASS Cycle M that will help you go to the next level of address quality.

Suite^Link
For CASS/MASS Cycle M effective August 2008, the Postal Service will require all software developers to certify Suite^Link as an optional component of CASS address-matching software. Suite^Link improves business addressing by adding known secondary (suite) numbers to allow delivery sequencing where it would otherwise not be possible. Given a business name and an associated ZIP + 4 coded address that matches to a high-rise default, the Suite^Link process will return the appropriate suite number when available.

While Suite^Link won’t be a requirement for automation discounts in 2008-2009 for end users, we encourage you to begin asking your CASS software developers about this process now to better prepare for the future.

Intelligent Mail barcode
Also, as part of Cycle M, all MASS manufacturers will be required to demonstrate their ability to spray an Intelligent Mail barcode. MASS certification cycle is designed to evaluate the ability of Multiline Optical Character Readers, Remote Video Encoding, Local Video Encoding and encoding stations to process address information and apply an accurate delivery point barcode to a mailpiece.

End users are not required to test the Intelligent Mail barcode in Cycle M but will have that option. However, if the requirement to spray the Intelligent Mail barcode for automated discounts is implemented by the Postal Service mid-cycle, end users will be required to recertify their MASS equipment with the barcode.

Start preparing now for the changes to CASS/MASS coming with the implementation of Cycle M.

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It's Roundup Time!

Customers are asked to return mail transport equipment

We’re rounding up our mail transport equipment.

Got any postal flat tubs, letter trays and sleeves, rolling stock (including hampers and cages), pallets and mailbags that are not in use? We’re asking all mailers, from households to large mailing companies, to return USPS equipment during this collection effort.

Remember: Mail transport equipment is to be used for official U.S. Postal Service mail only.

For more information about mail transport equipment, go to: http://www.usps.com/mailtransportequipment.

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WHAT'S UP

Halfway There

National deployment of Mailer Rating continues. It’s part of the Facility Access and Shipment Tracking (FAST) system and improves the drop shipment appointment process for Standard Mail and Package Services. Mailers who provide advance notification and arrive at the scheduled date and time with accurate contents will have more access to appointments.

Mailer Rating currently is being deployed at FAST/Surface Visibility facilities in the Great Lakes, Southwest and Eastern areas. The three-month deployment began last month in the Western Area. The final phase starts Oct. 20 and will include NY Metro, Capital Metro, Pacific, Northeast and Southeast areas.

Training for mailers is available online at https://fast.usps.com/fast. Without logging in, you can click Resources and find information on the Mailer Rating process and a review of commonly asked questions. Mailer Rating training presentations are available for download.

Remember: Pure Periodicals and perishables appointments are not rated. Mailer Rating does not apply to destination delivery units.

Questions or concerns? Send an e-mail to fast@usps.com with “Mailer Rating National Deployment” in the subject line.

FAST Arrival

FAST for Periodicals is here. Scheduling appointments in FAST improves the drop shipment process, enhancing visibility. It also enables Periodicals mailers to submit and manage recurring appointment requests online. No more faxing paper forms!

Periodicals mailers who arrive at postal facilities without appointments won’t be turned away. They will be accepted after mailers who have scheduled appointments in FAST. Periodicals drop shipments arriving without an appointment are accepted as unscheduled arrivals any time a facility is open and staffed according to its hours of operation.

Questions or concerns about FAST for Periodicals should be directed to fast@usps.com. Be sure to include “FAST for Periodicals” in the subject line.

You Have Liftoff

A “New Launch” application procedure is now available for publishers seeking Periodicals mailing privileges. Publishers who use this procedure are not initially required to meet traditional circulation standards at the time of application. For more information, refer to the Aug. 30 issue of Postal Bulletin at: http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/bulletin/2007/pb22214.pdf. 

Future Of Flats

The Flats Sequencing System will enable the Postal Service to provide more efficient service to business customers. Earlier this year, postal and industry representatives discussed flats strategy and related issues at a symposium in Washington, DC. The Mailers Technical Advisory Committee has posted questions and answers generated from that event at: http://ribbs.usps.gov/files/mtac/flats/Flats%20Symposium_QAs.08.29.08_v21.pdf

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Keeping Posted

2007

• National PCC Day is Sept. 19. The national broadcast at noon ET will feature remarks by Postmaster General John Potter.

2008

• The 2008 National Postal Forum (NPF) is May 18-21 in Anaheim, CA. Make plans now to attend. Check the NPF website at www.npf.org for more information.

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