June 2001
In January 2000, the Postal Service introduced a new manual procedure for the verification of automation letter mail. Today SAVE is used to verify all mail produced by mailer multiline optical character readers and barcode sorters, as well as other letter mailings containing at least 75,000 pieces.

Experience has shown SAVE to be reasonably effective. It has uncovered errors and proven to be a fair process with which mailers are having few problems.

Thus far in fiscal year 2001, 4.5 percent of SAVE-verified mailings have been found to have an error rate of more than 4 percent. The most common errors are presort and piece count discrepancies uncovered during the checks in part G of the SAVE worksheet.

Failed mailings require either rework or additional postage to make up for the errors.

On July 1, the Postal Service will expand the use of SAVE by lowering the minimum for list-sorted letter mailings from 75,000 to 50,000 pieces. The rolling average for Mail Preparation Total Quality Management (MPTQM) certified mailers will continue to apply.

Mailers should expect to receive a copy of all SAVE verification worksheets so that they can evaluate the quality of their mail and strive for continuous improvement. The MPTQM program in particular provides a discipline through which this can occur.

Interested mailers can find information on both SAVE and MPTQM on the Postal Service Web site at www.usps.com/mptqm.

• Business Mail Acceptance