Sheridan Magazine Services: News Releases

Intelligent Mail Barcode Ramifications

May 2008 — How much do you know about the Intelligent Mail Barcode? Enough to know what its impact will be when it’s implemented for flat (magazine) mail next May, along with the next scheduled rate increase?

For publishers (known to the USPS as mail owners), there are two major areas of concern: the quality and integrity of the mailing list database, and the new requirements for mailer IDs and unique serial numbers.

List integrity
Unfortunately, most mail owners are not as vigilant with their databases as they might be; on average, those we see contain about 10% bad data, with the majority of those having technical errors in address construction. For example, a street may be spelled “Main” when the actual street name is spelled “Maine.” While our CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System) software can fix many of these errors, roughly 2 to 5 percent cannot be corrected by the software.

Database quality is likely to become even more important with the implementation of the IMB, since the USPS may begin assessing additional postage or penalties for putting bad addresses into the system. Because of the amount of tracking data built into the IMB, the postal service will be able to identify the mail owner, postage sort level and any problem that might occur with an individual mail piece, as well as the associated cost of dealing with the defective mail piece.

The most important thing you can do to create efficient and cost-effective mail is to clean up your data:

Institute aggressive procedures to monitor the health of your files. If you see evidence on your postage statements that some of your addresses cannot be resolved to gain automation and carrier route discounts, use the tools available from the USPS — NCOA, CASS, AEC-I, AEC-II and others — to dig in there and fix those addresses. It will save you money, reduce delivery times and dramatically reduce subscribers’ complaints.
Establish safeguards in your process to protect your database from the update of anything that is not a proven name with a current, correct and complete address. And don’t forget those apartment and suite numbers!
Institute a plan to make sure that only DPV (Delivery Point Verified) certified addresses with a known current occupant can be added to your name-and-address databases going forward.

Mailer ID
To fulfill the requirements of the IMB code itself, you’ll be required to have a unique Mailer ID, assigned by the USPS, to use for each of your publications.

To avoid the rush, obtain your Mailer ID from the Mail Piece Design Analyst in your area as soon as possible.
Decide how to imbed it into your database records to pass it onto users of your database.
If you use the USPS Address Change System (ACS), you’ll need to devise a new numbering convention for your database files prior to each mailing. In contrast to the 4- to 16-character keylines used under the current system to match USPS notifications back to the mailer’s database, the IMB will require an all-numeric identifier or serial number that remains unique for a period of 45 days.

There’s no question that IMB and its implementation will present big challenges for all involved. What’s critical is that both publishers and mailers become — and remain — engaged in the process to make sure they’re not caught off-guard by the changes necessary to accommodate this mandate.

Get more information on other postal developments here.