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Q: How long does it take to get a mailing
out?
A: Depending on your volume, your mail could be processed and
out in as little as two days. Add time for jobs that require printing,
extensive setup or substantial list maintenance.
Q:
Is
Move Update processing (i.e. NCOALinkTM) required for my mailing?
A: YES! As part of the USPS effort to reduce undeliverable-as-addressed mail, new Move Update standards take effect on Nov. 23, 2008. Any mailer seeking discounted (presorted/automation) postage rates must have cleaned the mailing list through a USPS-approved Move Update process, such as
NCOALinkTM within the 95 days prior to the mail date. This regulation now applies to Standard Class Mail as well as First Class Mail.
If USPS cannot deliver to a specific address in your mailing, you will be required to present proof that the mailing list was indeed processed through a Move Update program within the 95 day time frame, by submitting a
Certificate of Move Update Compliance or be subject to "significant" penalties.
Q:
What is CASS?
A: Coding Accuracy Support System (CASSTM) A service offered to
mailers, service bureaus, and software vendors that improves the
accuracy of matching to delivery point codes, ZIP+4 codes, 5-digit ZIP
Codes, and carrier route codes on mailpieces. CASS provides a common
platform to measure the quality of address matching software and to
diagnose and correct software problems. This is often referred to as
"standardization".
Q: Does
standardization correct my addresses?
A: No, it simply reformats them to "ideal"
criteria. It's more a cosmetic than a deliverability issue. It
standardizes directionals, abbreviations, etc.
Q: Why do my list
processors keep bothering me about size and weight of my mailpiece?
A: Since 1997's USPS Reclassification, the Postal
Service has been more requiring about how mail trays are filled.
Knowing mailpiece characteristics allows us to program the tray
contents more accurately.
Q:
What is NCOA?
A: National Change of Address Linkage System (NCOALinkTM)
is an address correction service that the USPS provides to mailers
through USPS licensees. The licensees match mailing lists submitted
to them on tape or disk against change-of-address information for the
entire country from all Computerized Forwarding System units. If a
match is made, NCOALinkTM can correct the address before it
is printed on a mailpiece.
Q: What
is Fastforwardsm?
A: FASTforward
is a USPS-licensed
automated system that updates addresses by matching names and
addresses with current change-of-address orders on file. A piece
updated with FASTforward can be delivered directly to the new
address rather than forwarded from the old address.
A: Confirm is a USPS mailpiece tracking
service that provides an authorized subscriber with data
electronically collected from the optical scanning of specially
barcoded mailpieces as they pass through certain automated mail
processing operations. Scanned data can include the postal facility
where such pieces are processed, the postal operation used to process
the pieces, the date and time when the pieces are processed, and the
numeric equivalent of two barcodes that help to identify the specific
pieces. Confirm allows the subscriber to track the progress of
mailings into different areas of the country; it does not provide
proof of delivery.
Q:
How
does Confirm work?
A: Confirm requires USPS authorization after
applicable fees are paid and technical requirements for certification
are met. For certification, a mailer must submit for evaluation and
approval mailpieces bearing both PLANET Code barcodes and POSTNET
barcodes to the National Customer Support Center.
Confirm is
available to authorized subscribers for tracking automation-compatible
letter-size or flat-size mail in the following classes:
§
First-Class Mail (including Priority
Mail)
§
Periodicals
§
Standard Mail
§
Package Services
Two service
applications are available:
a.
Origin Confirm
for incoming mail. This use notifies the subscribing mailer of
various movements of individual reply pieces, such as business reply
mail being returned by customers, before delivery to the Confirm
subscriber.
b.
Destination Confirm
for outgoing mail. This use notifies the subscribing mailer of
various movements of individual pieces, such as letter-size or
flat-size pieces in a specific mailing, from the entry of the mailing
to final automated processing steps of the pieces before delivery to
the destination address.
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