Monthly Archive for June, 2010

MTAC Meeting Update – Hot Topics

Published on June 10, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

David Robinson – Pitney Bowes, Postal Relations

At the recent Mailers Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC) update, there were several topics of significance being discussed which is what happens at MTAC.  Hot topics such as the Intelligent Mail barcode, Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) and even hints of Seamless Acceptance.

 As I step back and consider the theme of the recent Postal Service messaging and certainly the theme of MTAC, it is largely about the USPS working to have electronic submission of postage statements and to be able to verify and validate the accuracy of the statements as well as the quality of the physical mail.

 This is may be subtle at this time, but I caution us all not to overlook the significance of what the USPS is messaging to us in various ways.

 For example, we know that seamless acceptance is back in public discussion (it went quiet when the industry pushed back in the early IMb days).  With Tom Day’s recent statement about the IMb being used to determine address quality, this ties it all together for me in terms of what the USPS plans to do – and again, has informed us in differing ways. 

 I’m confident that the USPS has every intention of driving mailers to use electronic documentation (i.e., full-service IMb, the recent edoc requirement for comailers and copallitization mailers, and talk of seamless acceptance).  The benefits to the USPS are obvious so we can see why they would like us to get there. 

 This does raise an interesting point about how the USPS feels about the basic IMb implementation verses full-service and what it means to their ability to provide service measurement and reporting as well as address quality validation.  Certainly something to think about.

 So what can mailers do in anticipating the impact of the USPS initiatives in this area?  I suggest the following:

  • Contact your Pitney Bowes representative at 800 123-1234 and put together a plan to review all possible feedback from the USPS (i.e., PBV, MicroStrategy Reports, etc.) and determine current levels of errors from the industry as well as errors from the USPS.  These discussions would be held in confidence as we recognize that we are sharing information that might reflect poorly on the processes in the event of a single poor mailing 
    • The critical point in this exercise is to determine how well positioned you are to meet the ever growing challenges of complying with the USPS initiates of moving to seamless acceptance and total address quality.  If we don’t manage this process, we will be continuously squeezed and the cost of compliance violations, appeals process and overall anxiety will grow – and none of us needs the additional pressure.

 Again, while there are lots of really important issues being discussed, we should take a step back and look at the bigger picture of where the USPS is going, and the likely short timeframe in which they will feel the need to get there.  We already know that they are under severe financial pressure, so every means of reducing their operating costs is on the table.

Reaping the Rewards of Intelligent Mail

Published on June 10, 2010 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Our own Kevin Conti was a featured speaker at this year’s Billing and OSS World Conference and Expo this week.  I am sharing with you the article from Tim McElligott, Editor in Chief, B/OSS.

Billing & OSS World, Washington, D.C. — The black hole of the United States Postal Service is not theoretical. Nor is the revenue lost over its event horizon due to the uncertainties and duplication created by the unknown variables of mail-delivery status.

Kevin Conti, director of mailing solutions at Pitney Bowes Business Insight, delivered his own message Wednesday at the Billing & OSS World Conference & Expo about eliminating that black hole. And it was free of the uncertainty of messages delivered by the USPS. His message was unambiguous: Billers are wasting too much time, money and resources on redundant, inaccurate and unknown factors regarding the disposition of a piece of mail.

Historically, billers lack the visibility to determine the delivery rate of mail without intelligent bar coding and even then there are challenges and limits. However, the new USPS barcode – to which compliance will be required by May of 2011 –contains a unique ID, which can be used for tracking not only the destiny of a piece of mail, but potentially all the customer, destination and other relevant data associated with it.

“Knowing when a mail piece was being delivered can solve a lot of business problems for you,” Conti said.

Even basic information, such as whether or not a returned piece of mail is being rejected for the first time or the fifth can save billers huge sums of money. In some cases, Conti said, rather than returning or re-processing a piece of mail, its importance may warrant a disposition of the piece (throwing it away rather than re-processing.)

It also is helpful to understand not just the disposition of a piece of mail, but the history and characteristics of the payer so that billers can develop patterns of behavior that will allow them to treat different customers differently.

Knowing this information can help billers (or service providers) know their users better — or at all. It can help billers predict daily payment values with inbound remit visibility and analyze the payment patterns of the less disciplined user. Barcodes now allow customers to get status updates on, say, their customer status, the complete customer record in cycle, present method, premier method account status and history.

In too many cases, billers know within one to two days that a piece of mail is undelivered, but they seldom know why.

“This leads to a very high recidivism rate,” Conti said. “Fifty-one percent of returned mail has been returned before. Without this insight they miss a lot of actionable intelligence that can help them eliminate the cost of re-handling this mail.

This insight also would allow the biller to identify patterns in a customers’ payment behavior. Not knowing if a payment is on its way or whether or not a bill was every actually received can lead to a high instance in pre-mature disconnection, which costs $25 to $75 to reconnect. Fifteen percent of these can be eliminated, Conti said.

“Customer service has a lot of blind spots,” Conti said. And not using the intelligent barcode can lead to multiple re-printing, redundant mailing and other unnecessary processing.

However, he cautioned that billers can’t rely on the postal service to make the intelligent barcode do all it is capable of doing. By itself, the code simply tracks the mail piece. It is up to the biller to assign usable customer data to the bill or other mail piece

The true cost of poor address quality

Published on June 9, 2010 in Address Quality, Move Update and PBBI Solutions. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Over the past few months, the interest in address quality has risen dramatically.

Perhaps the new USPS Move Update penalties that took effect this past January caused some mailers to start looking into what it costs when an address is incorrect.  In speaking with print and mail managers over the past few months, we have heard that higher postal costs represent only a fraction of the total. Here are some of the ways organizations categorize this added expense: 

  • Higher Postal Expenses:  lost discounts, new seven-cent per-piece penalty, USPS postal inspections, possible fines.
  • Return Mail Processing: reprint and remail expenses, remail postage, manual handling, one-off address corrections.
  • Unnecessary Operational Costs: inbound status calls, collections and reinstatements, missed compliance notifications, regulatory fines.
  • Dissatisfaction and Lost Opportunity: communication delays, poor customer experiences, attrition and cancellations, costly acquisition, missed sales.

Because these expenses are incurred throughout an organization, costs can be difficult to quantify.  To make it easy, Pitney Bowes Business Insight offers a no-cost Enterprise Address Management assessment that can help you determine what percent of your mail file contains errors.  If you are interested, drop me a line at Cynthia.Williams@pb.com.

What’s new in Intelligent Mail

Published on June 9, 2010 in Intelligent Mail and PBBI Solutions. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

By Kevin Ricks, Product Manager

At a recent meeting of the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC), the USPS touted some interesting statistics on the Intelligent Mail® full-service program.  As of April 23, 2010:

  • 384 customer sites have been approved for production
  • Those 384 sites have finalized 163,439 postage statements
  • Intelligent Mail volumes are 15,110,945,736
  • USPS Revenue totals $4,126,863,196

Another nugget reported: 40% of Mailers are still using the POSTNETor PLANET barcodes. These are organizations that, with less than a year remaining before these barcodes are discontinued, may not have an Intelligent Mail strategy.

The hallway chatter at both MTAC and IDEAlliance indicates that Intelligent Mail adoption can be difficult and costly if you don’t have the right tools.  Plus, as the USPS gains visibility into mailers’ processes, there is some concerns of how the USPS will this new-found data. 

For example, as organizations prepare for Full-Service Release #4 (slated for November 2010) they need to pay close attention to compliance standards if they want to claim the $3 per thousand automation discounts. The USPS plans on verifying adherence to the Intelligent Mail guidelines and will penalize mailers for lack of compliance. 

The most likely errors have already been named ‘the seven deadly sins of Intelligent Mail’.

  1. Each Container IMb has not been used in the mailstream for at least 45 days
  2. Each Tray/Sack IMb has not been used in the mailstream for at least 45 days
  3. Each Mailpiece IMb has not been used in the mailstream for at least 45 days
  4. An invalid Mailer ID used in the Intelligent Mail barcode
  5. An invalid Service Type Identifier (STID) used in the IMb
  6. Errors in the Customer Supplier Agreements (CSA)/incorrect data in CSA
  7. Each drop shipment appointment that is schedule in the USPS FAST system is linked to the correct containers

These sins are deadly because they can cost mailers money. Beginning November 7, 2010, those who induct mail claiming the Intelligent Mail® automation that fail the compliance audit will be fined the amount of the entire portion of the mail found to be out of compliance.  To add insult to injury, the USPS will also charge mailers for all address changes (ACS) notices at the traditional ACS rate: costing up to an additional 8¢ per piece depending on class of mail.

Pitney Bowes Business Insight can help.  Our industry-leading MAIL360TM solution makes it easy to manage Intelligent Mail® requirements, including the assignment of unique barcodes—so you can reduce the risk in your Intelligent Mail® implementation.  I invite you to learn more today.

Tell us how you have saved—and win $50.

Published on June 9, 2010 in Innovation. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

What have you done differently over the past year to cut costs and manage expenses?  Are you paying less postage?  Have you taken a bite out of returned mail?  Perhaps you have found ways to streamline or automate workflows.  Sometimes, even simple changes can pay big dividends over time.

As a community of mail professionals, we can learn from each other.  And every idea is a good idea. Take a quick second to jot down your success story in the comments section below.  One winner will receive a $50 Best Buy gift card for sharing their great idea.

MailStream PLUS Release 7.9.4

Published on June 9, 2010 in Intelligent Mail and PBBI Solutions. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

By Kevin Ricks, Product Manager

The latest release of MailStream PLUS® is PAVE Cycle L and MAC-Batch certified.  MailStream PLUS® v7.9.4 is available on all Operating Platforms beginning June 7, 2010.

The MailStream Plus v7.9.4 release provides significant value for anyone looking to maximize postal presort discounts: 

  • Improved support for Intelligent Mail® and the submission of valid electronic documentation to the USPS by allowing customers to input the required Customers Supplier Agreement (CSA) data into MailStream PLUS®
  • Enhanced the functionality of Priority Mail by adopting the latest USPS price table structures in MailStream Plus for the most popular Priority Mail options: Commercial Base and Commercial Plus

Learn more about MailStream PLUS and how you can save money this year.

MAIL360 Release 2.1.0

Published on June 9, 2010 in Intelligent Mail and PBBI Solutions. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

By Kevin Ricks, Product Manager

I am pleased to announce the next release of MAIL360: the extensible architecture that leverages the value of Intelligent Mail®.  MAIL360 v2.1.0 is available on June 15, 2010.

This much anticipated release advances MAIL360 as a robust business application for the Enterprise and strengthens the product’s position as the industry’s premier Intelligent Mail® platform.  The features of MAIL360 v2.1.0 include: 

  • Improved security of the MAIL360 modules using OpenSSL to secure the data exchange between MAIL360 modules and the introduction of user authentication.
  • Introduction of user and group management; allowing users and groups to be managed in MAIL360.  This feature restricts the access to content in the MAIL360 Data Manager by users and groups, so multiple mailers can share a single data repository.
  • Introduction of mailpiece spoilage tracking and reporting.

These features, coupled with improvements to our mailpiece query user interface and basic reports, provide significant value to MAIL360 users.  Learn more about MAIL360 today.