Frequently Asked Questions

2014 BRANDED COLOR MOBILE TECHNOLOGY
PROMOTION

Registration Period: December 15, 2013-March 31, 2014
Promotion Period: February 1, 2014-March 31, 2014

General Program Information

1.  Who receives the discount? The MSP or Mail owner?
The discount is applied to whoever is making the payment. If the mailing is on the MSP’s permit, then the MSPs permit will receive the discount. It is then up to the MSP and the mail owner to determine how the discount is applied back to the customer.  If the payment is made by the mail owner then it goes to the mail owner’s permit.

2.  Can this promotion be used for Every Door Direct Mail going through the BMEU? Yes it qualifies, as long as it is going through the BMEU and it is on a permit or meter mail. If it is EDDM-Retail, it does not qualify for the discount.

3.  So this is only for mail dropped in the period of Feb 1- March 31? 2 months? Yes, it is a 2 month promotion. The time frame corresponds to the mailing date--the time that the mail is accepted and paid for.  However, if you are doing Plant Verified Drop Shipment, it can be paid for earlier and dropped off up to 2 weeks after the promotion period has ended.

4.  How much is the discount for this promotion?
It is an upfront 2% postage discount on the eligible line item.

5.  Is the mobile barcode discount available for Presorted First-Class parcels?
No, parcels do not qualify for these promotions—it is just for first-class or standard letters and flats.

6.  We see a note in the program requirements regarding a 10,000 piece limit. Please expand on this. Are we limited to only 10,000 pieces?
This is a general mailing requirement with Postal Wizard not a promotion requirement.  If the mailing is full service, there is a 10k piece maximum.  Up to 9,999 mailpieces can be submitted on a postage statement using Postal Wizard for full service pieces.  If the mailer is using IMb basic or Saturation mailing and there is no IMb barcode then the 10k limit does
not apply.  Mail.dat and Mail.xml have no volume requirements.

Mobile Technology & Mailpiece Requirements

1.  Can the QR code be on the mailpiece inside of an envelope? Or must it be on the outside of the envelope?
The QR code can be either on the inside or outside of the mailpiece. We ask that you stay clear of the indicia zone, in the area where the permit is located, the address block or
barcode clear zone beneath the address block.  Please check the full promotion
requirements for more specific information.

2.  I submitted a color QR code for approval but the USPS support rep could not scan a color code with their reader. How do we solve these types of issues?
Sometimes it is the quality of the copy.  If one reviewer is having problems, we send it to another team member to review and try on a variety of devices and with various QR code readers.  If we continue to have problems, we ask that you provide more information about the device and app that you used to get a clear scan.

3.  Is there a size that the QR code needs to be?
Our recommendation is 1 inch by 1 inch (which is a best practice) but there are no specifications. We recommend that you print it out and test scanning it on different devices and with different scanning apps.

4.  In the past the mobile optimized page had to be where the user could make a purchase. Is this still the case? Can the page just be a general page without any kind of purchase area?
This promotion only requires that the code leads to a mobile optimized experience—it does not have to be a purchase site but it can be. It can also lead to click to call, video, request for a survey or product information pages for example and it must to be mobile optimized.

5.  What website do we go to in order to create the QR code?
We don’t have a recommendation of a specific company to use. There are a number of them and you can check with your printer or mail service provider for more information.

6.  Our branded colors are red and black and we have very specific logo usage rules that do not allow us to put it in a QR code. Since Red and Black are our colors, that is all we can print on a mailpiece. Why is black not considered a color to the USPS when it is valid to use in a registered trademark?
If your QR code includes a trademark, you can use one additional color—other than black, white or grey.  You can also use a graphic that is symbolic of your company; it doesn’t necessarily have to be your logo. When developing the promotion, we wanted to get mailers to move beyond utilizing a standard black and white code. They are not the most engaging and tend to blend in with the mailpiece.  If you have questions or a mock up that you would like feedback on, please send it to our mobile barcode inbox for review at mobilebarcode@usps.gov.

7.  Purl QR codes don’t qualify, correct?
Actually, purl QR codes could qualify. If the code leads to a unique website and meets the color and mobile optimization requirements, it would qualify.

8.  If the QR code is red and black it is still considered a 1 color QR code? Red and black look really good together. It works for Santa.
Yes, it would be considered one color if it just a QR code—with no graphic or trademark included.  If you included a graphic or trademark with red—that one color would qualify.

9.  Can we have the customer scan our QR code and land on a mobile optimized landing page but then subsequent clicks lead to non-mobile optimized pages?
The entire experience must be mobile optimized so this scenario would not meet the promotion requirements.

10. Customer scans a color QR code from their mail piece.  The scan transfers the customer immediately to a call center representative. There is no web page with offers displayed—would this qualify for the promotion?
Yes, this scenario would qualify for the Branded Color promotion.

11. If I have a QR code that has blue (the dots/squares) with a pink background, does that qualify as two colors?
Yes, that would qualify for the promotion.

12. What if I have a black and white QR code with colors around the outside, is that acceptable?
No, that would not qualify.  The two colors must be a part of the actual QR code design.

13. Will you review just the QR code or do you need the entire mail piece?  How large of a PDF (file size) can you accept?
You can send whatever you have ready and we can give you feedback. If you just have the QR code, we can check color and mobile optimization requirements and approve that portion. It is good to get final approval once you have a more final mockup of the mailpiece. The more we get, the more we can approve.  Up to 4 MBs is the largest we can accept via email.

14. How far in advance should we get pre-approval?
Pre-approval is not required but it is highly recommended. We try to respond within 24-48 hours. We do recommend getting approval before printing. The earlier the better, we can pre-qualify a code alone, mock ups/concepts, near final PDFs, whatever you have we can review and provide guidance/feedback.

Webinar Questions

1.  Will this presentation deck be available and is this webinar being recorded for playback?
Yes, both the recording and the deck will be posted on our RIBBS website usually within 2-3 days at: https://ribbs.usps.gov/mobilebarcode/general.htm

2.  Did the EDDM New Customer Acquisition Promo get approved?
Yes, but it is not part of the promotions calendar. We are still working on developing and implementing technical requirements that could not be launched at the beginning of the year so we are striving for a mid-year launch. We don’t have any additional information to
release about it at this time.

3.  For the Premium Advertising Promotion, I mail more than $6MM, but do not remember receiving any communication as an eligible customer. If I didn't get that letter, can I not participate?
Yes--possibly, please email PremiumAdMail@usps.gov with your inquiry. The letter may have gone to someone else in your company or we may not have counted all of your volume and will follow up.

4.  For the Color Print promotion, what is a transactional field?  We mail bills--is the whole thing considered transactional?
The transactional field would be a marketing message (i.e. in green type--Did you know we have a special on new service this month?) Simply putting Total Due in red type would not qualify because it is not a marketing message. We will have a separate webinar for this promotion in the coming months and the full requirements will be posted on RIBBS this week.

5.  Are these discounts in addition to other discounts that we may be eligible for? Yes, the full service discount can be applied to all of the promotions and it will be applied because IMb full service is a requirement for participation. There are two promotions running concurrently, Premium Advertising (15% discount) and Mail and Digital
Personalization promotion (2% discount). There is a 2 month period that they overlap so the customer could potentially get a 17% discount at the line item level by participating in both.
There is also a Saturation High Density Incentive that is ongoing that can be participated in
concurrently with any of the other promotions.  So if you are getting the 2% discount by participating in another promotion, the mail volumes will qualify for the Saturation High Density counts this year.

6.  2% Earned Value...If we have a mail shop doing mailings for multiple small customers can the mailer sign up or does each small customer have to have a permit # to get the discount?
Registration can be done at the MSP level and please note that the rebate is 2 cent per piece not 2%. We are allowing the credit to be applied to multiple permit accounts this year so that may help in some scenarios.  Please review the full promotion requirements on RIBBS (https://ribbs.usps.gov/mobilebarcode) or email the program office at EarnedValue@usps.gov for more information.

Promotion Registration/Technical questions

7.  I couldn't find where to register for this specifically. Where can I find that? Customers have to register for the promotions on the Business Customer Gateway at: http://gateway.usps.com.  We have a step by step registration guide with screen shots that can be found on RIBBS: https://ribbs.usps.gov/mobilebarcode/general.htm.

8.  Can you go over the auto enrollment for the MSP?
eDoc enrollment using Mail.dat, Postal Wizard or Mail.XML enables an MSP to enroll their clients in real-time when eDocs claiming the promotion are submitted.  During postage statement finalization, PostalOne! will validate that the MSP CRID in the eDoc is enrolled as an MSP.  The PostalOne! system will enroll the client(s) in the promotion based on the "For" field data in the eDoc, and will only then calculate the discount if there are no system Warnings.  PostalOne! will perform By/For Warning validations and generates Warning for MSP that are not registered and for invalid CRIDS.  PostalOne! will process the eDoc in the case for Warnings (i.e., not fail files and not extend the promotion discount).
More information can be found in the MSP enrollment guide on RIBBs
(https://ribbs.usps.gov/mobilebarcode/general.htm).

9.  Are there specific mail.dat specifications required to claim this promotion? i.e. 14-
1 only?
Starting Monday, 1/27, you can use older mail.dat versions. We are implementing an update that will allow use of version 13.1.  However, you will have to use CCR value “MT” instead of “CP” because “CP” is not supported in 13.1.  You can find more information about the technical specifications on RIBBS at: https://ribbs.usps.gov/mobilebarcode/general.htm

10. Can “MT” be used for mail.xml 13b for the Mail and Digital Personalization promotion?
The “MT” code is just for the Branded Color promotion and it can be used with version 13b. After this promotion, all of the 2 digit codes will be supported in all versions.  Please review the technical requirements on RIBBS at: https://ribbs.usps.gov/mobilebarcode/general.htm

11. Where can I find more information on the promotion?
https://ribbs.usps.gov/mobilebarcode https://www.usps.com/business/promotions-and-incentives.htm?

12. How do I contact the USPS Promotions & Incentives Program Office?

Email:	mobilebarcode@usps.gov

Facsimile:	202-268-0238

Mail:	US Postal Service
2014 Branded Color Mobile Technology Promotion
P.O. Box 23282
Washington, DC 20026-3282