MEMO TO MAILERS - JANUARY 2005 (text)
UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE
VOLUME 40 NUMBER 1
JANUARY 2005

WHAT’S INSIDE
ADDRESS INFORMATION
NATIONAL POSTAL FORUM
NPF REGISTRATION
POSTAL NEWS BRIEFS
KEEPING POSTED

PARTNERS IN SUCCESS!
Dependability and visibility — it’s what the Postal Service delivers with its co-branded shipping supplies. You want people to see your logo? Nobody else reaches every address in the country.

GEICO, eBay and 1-800-PetMeds are among the companies using co-branded packaging from USPS. GEICO, one of the country’s largest auto insurance providers, uses Priority Mail Flat Rate envelopes to correspond with customers.

1-800-PetMeds, America’s largest pet pharmacy, is shipping its pet medications, health and nutritional supplements to pet owners in Priority Mail boxes. eBay, the world’s largest online marketplace, makes free co-branded Priority Mail boxes available through its website.

GEICO appreciates the free mailers the co-branded program offers but it doesn’t underestimate the value of the advertising. “Every time a region or corporate office uses the Priority Mail envelope there are multiple opportunities for the public to see our name,” says GEICO’s Postal Administrator Amy VanDevender. The mailers are planned for use at all of GEICO’s corporate and regional sites as well as its print mail center in Fredericksburg, VA.

GEICO also is pleased to be associated with Priority Mail and its positive image. “Because Priority Mail has a delivery standard of up to three days provides the public with good, consistent service, which reflects not only the dependability of USPS delivery but also on the quality of the company sending the product,” says VanDevender.

1-800-PetMeds uses Priority Mail as the preferred delivery method to its customers nationwide. “1-800-PetMeds closely monitors on-time delivery performance,” says Chief Financial Officer Bruce Rosenbloom. “We have tested several carriers and feel that USPS Priority Mail provides the most reliable on-time delivery to our customers.

“And our customers have come to expect the familiar Priority Mail box with our logo. The co-branded boxes complement our company’s marketing strategy of selling through television, catalogs and the Internet,” he says.

Shippers generating more than $500,000 annually in expedited services are eligible for customized packaging services, including co-branding. Companies can order their logo printed directly on Priority Mail packaging.

“These services allow the shipper to meld their branding with other marketing strategies, whether Direct Mail, the Internet or broadcast advertising,” says Jim Cochrane, USPS manager for Package Services and Product Development. “Custom boxes also help streamline a company’s shipping operation — and helps save money.”

Want to learn more about the program? Contact your local USPS sales representative.

OUT WITH THE OLD ... IN WITH THE NEW
A major change took place last year in a key Postal Service program that has been largely transparent to most customers who use it. After nearly 18 years of continuous operation, the Postal Service National Change-of-Address (NCOA) program was quietly retired Oct. 1 and replaced by the new NCOALINK product.

Originally implemented in 1986, NCOA became the standard for correcting customer address information following relocation or change in mailing address. Nearly 1.5 trillion address records were checked against NCOA and nearly 41.2 billion were corrected. NCOA was offered to the mailing industry through a network of 18 commercial licensees who provided address hygiene and list cleansing services.

But its design limited more widespread use. As USPS sought to reduce costs associated with mail forwarding and at the same time increase data security and protect customer privacy, a new approach to providing NCOA services became necessary.

Using USPS-developed technology, addressing specialists at the National Customer Support Center created a unique product that blends data security, protection of customer information privacy and ease of use — NCOALINK. It can be used by more mailers, more often and more conveniently. Instead of restricting the product to a limited number of commercial licensees, NCOALINK can be licensed by individual mailers. Its innovative design protects customer privacy — mailers can obtain the new information only if they already possess the customer’s name and old address.

More and more mailers are using this important tool. In addition to 16 licensees who converted from NCOA to NCOALINK, an additional 27 companies have signed up to become limited or full-service NCOALINK service providers. Other licenses allow individual mailers to obtain NCOALINK and use it for their own addressing programs. Growth in the use of NCOALINK to correct customer addresses before they are entered into the mailstream will continue as commercial software suppliers integrate NCOALINK into their address hygiene product suites.

So, with quiet fanfare and thanks for a “job well done,” USPS bids farewell to NCOA. And, with an enthusiastic and energetic welcome to NCOALINK, the USPS demonstrates its commitment to keep moving forward.

ADDRESS SYSTEMS ON CD
Start your new year with a convenient and easy-to-use way to maintain accurate and up-to-date address files — the AIS (Address Information Systems) Viewer.

This product, introduced last year, replaces Publication 65, the two-volume National Five-Digit ZIP Code and Post Office Directory, which will not be published this year. The 2004 edition is the last printed version.

AIS Viewer includes several products on a single CD-ROM:

• Address Lookup
• City/State/Delivery Type
• County Name Retrieval
• Delivery Statistics Retrieval
• ZIP + 4 Retrieval

AIS Viewer provides the same ZIP Code information available in the hard-copy Pub 65 but with significant improvements. It’s designed to retrieve, view and print hard-copy reports on demand at a 5-digit ZIP Code level. The data is valid for 105 days from the product cycle date, providing a significant improvement in the content, accuracy and timeliness of information over the old hard-copy reports.

Each of the products available on the AIS Viewer CD-ROM is priced separately, allowing mailers the flexibility to customize the product to their needs. The annual subscription price is based on which products are ordered.

For more information about this and other addressing tools, contact the National Customer Support Center at 800-238-3150.

POSTAL NEWS BRIEFS
MONEY TRANSFER SERVICE EXPANDED
Sure Money, the Postal Service’s international wire transfer service, also called Dinero Seguro, has expanded its reach to Latin America and the Caribbean.

Available to Mexico since 1996, Sure Money now provides customers with the ability to transfer money to nine additional countries. They are the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Peru.

For more information about the service, call 888-368-4669.

EXCELLENCE IN ACTION
The Major Mailers Association (MMA) honored USPS Address Management Manager Jan Caldwell with its first-ever “Excellence in Action Award.” Caldwell was selected unanimously by the MMA membership, which is comprised of 24 companies that represent $4 billion in annual postage revenue.

MMA recognized Caldwell and her Address Management team for a track record of success in helping MMA companies improve address accuracy.
The award was presented at the MMA 15th Annual Meeting in Albuquerque, NM.

KEEPING POSTED
PMG CELEBRATES PCC TEAMWORK
Postmaster General John E. Potter promoted partnership between local Postal Customer Councils (PCC) and the Postal Service in speeches last month at three PCC events.

The meetings in Baltimore, MD, Oakbrook Terrace, IL, and Phoenix, AZ, attracted more than a thousand postal customers who gathered to hear the PMG reiterate the importance of the PCC Network and its membership in helping the Postal Service achieve its objectives to improve service, raise revenue and lower costs.

“Help us evolve into the Postal Service of the 21st century,” PMG Potter told the members of the Baltimore PCC on Dec. 3.

Five days later, at the Ninth Annual Mailers Forum hosted by the Greater Illinois PCC, the Postmaster General continued his call to action, saying, “It’s so important that you and PCC members all across the country help us tell the story about the value of mail and about how to use the mail to grow business.”

The next day, at the Arizona Business Mailers Expo sponsored by the Greater Metro Phoenix PCC, the Postmaster General brought the crowd to its feet, reminding them to “stay involved.” Potter said: The fact that you are here today testifies to your commitment to help our businesses grow … yours and ours.”

In Illinois, attendees came from all three Chicago PCCs, as well as from Rockford, Milwaukee and downstate Illinois, according to South Suburban PCC Industry co-chair Mary Williams. “This was a very successful event,” she said.

That sentiment was shared out West. “We were hoping to hit a home run by getting an officer from the Postal Service speak at the Arizona Business Mailers Expo,” said Greater Metro Phoenix PCC Postal co-chair Ron Abalos. “After the PMG spoke, the consensus was that we hit one out of the park and he spent considerable time speaking with the customers and vendors.”

Concurring was Baltimore PCC Industry co-chair Charles Howard, who commented, “We fully appreciate the time the Postmaster General invested to communicate at the grass-roots level the needs of the Postal Service.”

At each venue, the Postmaster General used the opportunity to remind PCC members that the 2005 National PCC Day satellite broadcast would take place Sept. 14.

2005 PCC LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
The annual PCC Leadership Conference, held in conjunction with the annual National Postal Forum, will be held March 20-21 at the Opryland Hotel and Convention Center in Nashville, TN. The 2005 Conference will feature an opening session on Sunday, March 20, and five new workshops to be held on Sunday and Monday. For the second year, a USPS-issued professional certificate can be earned by registrants who attend at least four workshops.

The new workshops are: PCC Network Recognition Program: A Best Practices Program, Grow Your Business with Workshops-in-a-Box Series and PCC Speakers’ Bureau, PCC Planning Process, the Best Approach to a PCC Website and Building Membership through Database Management.
For more information on the National Postal Forum please visit www.npf.org, or call
703-218-5015.

_____________________________________

MEMO TO MAILERS
Volume 40 Number 1

Ilze Sella
Editorial Services

Frank Papandrea
Art Director

David Ostroff
Designer

Betty Shelton
Purchasing Specialist

Azeezaly S. Jaffer
Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications

John E. Potter
Postmaster General and CEO

Memo to Mailers
is published by U.S. Postal Service
Public Affairs and Communications.
USPS eagle symbol and logotype are
registered marks of the
United States Postal Service.

© 1966 United States Postal Service. The following are among the many trademarks owned by the United States Postal Service: USPS®, U.S. Postal Service®, United States Postal Service®, Postal Service™, Post Office™, Priority Mail®, Express Mail®, Standard Mail™, First-Class Mail®, Registered Mail™, Certified Mail™, Delivery Confirmation™, Signature Confirmation™, ZIP Code™, Click-N-Ship®, NetPost® and The Postal Store®. This list is not a comprehensive list of all Postal Service marks.

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