Valley Forge Mailboxes Blog, Valley Forge PA

The USPS Delays Intelligent Mail Barcode Implementation – Why Mailers Shouldn’t

Now that the U.S. Postal Service® has decided that automation discounts for mail with POSTNET barcodes will continue to be offered beyond May 2011, mailers have been given an extension for full implementation of the Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb).  Mailers wanted this postponement, but should they be taking steps to employ the IMb sooner rather than later?

Currently, many mailers are using the POSTNET™ barcode which only contains the routing code. The IMb was developed by the USPS to provide a more robust code capable of encoding more information while minimizing the space used on the mail piece. This new barcode combines the data of the POSTNET™ and PLANET Code® barcodes, as well as other data into a single barcode.

One of the most important parts of this robust code is the ability to track mail to the individual piece level. The IMb is used in conjunction with USPS Confirm to follow mail as it travels through postal sorting equipment. Using near real-time data feed from the USPS, detailed information is displayed on when and where mail is being delivered across the country.

Mailers are using the IMb tracking information to reduce production costs and increase response rates.

It’s obvious that mailers who keep their mailing technology the same will continue to only receive the automation benefits, but are mailers actually losing revenue and valuable marketing intelligence by keeping things status quo?

The IMb can track every piece of mail with a single barcode. More importantly, this new technology provides the mailing industry with a new range of capabilities in all of their mailing activities.  Beginning from the customer list, through mail production, into the postal mail stream and even to customer activity, Intelligent Mail brings a new measure of control and value to mail.

“We are truly witnessing the beginning of a new era in mailing,” says Paul Ercolino, president of US Monitor, the nation’s leading mail monitoring service which partnered with trackmymail, a Pitney Bowes company to bring mailers the next generation of mail tracking, Mailstream Intelligence.  ”Especially, in these challenging economic times, mailers need to get the most from every resource, including their mail tracking programs.”

Let’s take a look at some of the intelligence this new technology is bringing in the way of benefits to mailers that have chosen to employ the IMb. The IMb has enough digits that every piece of mail can have its own unique identification. The ability to uniquely identify each mail piece has some obvious benefits:

You can uniquely track every piece of mail as it travels through the Postal

Service, and know what happened to it. Did it get delivered? When?  Was it forwarded? Was it returned? All of this information is available when every piece is identified.

You can get information on the address or the recipient if they’ve moved.

Address corrections can be sent automatically to the mailer. You can be very selective about this process, choosing only those pieces where this information will have value to you. With constantly increasing production and postage costs it becomes more important than ever to maintain accurate addresses. 

Some of the Mailstream Intelligence benefits are derived from the proprietary network of “agents” around the country that physically receive a sampling of seeds (decoys) of mail pieces and report back the delivery information via the Internet to the US Monitor database. This way it is known EXACTLY when a piece of mail is received by the recipient.

By tracking every piece of your mailing with the Intelligent Mail Barcode…from USPS inception to the live monitoring of seeded pieces at in-home destinations IMb combined with seeds, allow you to:

Plan and Time Mailings More Effectively
Synchronize related marketing Activities
For example, response rates will rise when email/text efforts are synchronized with actual mail delivery

Get Postage & Production Savings 
Gain information on “undelivered as addressed” mail (UAA). By timing your mailings better and improving the percentage delivered by eliminating bad addresses, you can boost the response rates on a direct mailing.

The USPS states that one of the benefits mailers will receive by using the IMb is “more accurate and detailed information about their mailings which can enable better decision making.”

Since direct mail is an integral part of your business, you are going to use Intelligent Mail in the near future. The only question you face is when?

To learn more about the IMb benefits, mechanics of working with the IMb and the variety of reporting options, performance sorts & data exporting, contact Paul Ercolino directly at 845.634.1331 ext. 124 or visit www.usmonitor.com/msiad.