Adding Print and Mail?

noelward

Well-known member
Against Gravity

Adding Print and Mail?

Good idea. But be careful!

By Noel Ward, Editor@Large

I’ll begin this new column with a question: Is the address of the 11,517th person in the mailing you have going out on Thursday correct? How do you know?

This is not an idle question, because if the 11,517th name and address is wrong, there may be a few others in that file of 62,834 that are also incorrect. The same is true about the 2,783rd out of 3,019. I know this first-hand. Back when I was a direct mail virgin some 32,000 mail pieces went out, with a too large bunch of them turning out to be “undeliverable as addressed”. The client was displeased. I took the heat, even though it was not entirely my fault (corrupt data), because some days you eat the bear, other days the bear eats you. Another time I was not involved but a printer I know found out just how long a morning can be when the mailing list his client provided was less than up-to-date. He got something like 3,500 mail pieces back. I could commiserate, but he was on his own in resolving the problem. He made nice with his client which updated its mailing list.

How Hard Can it Be?
I bring this up now because as commercial printing declines for some PSPs, adding print and mail services has a certain allure. After all, how hard can it be?

The answer is very, because adding mailing services is a strategic business decision and more complex than it first appears. Nothing really difficult, but there are a lot of details. It is one thing to mail out bills for the local veterinary practice you recently printed brochures for; quite another to produce and mail utility invoices, statements for a local credit union, or a town’s tax bills.

Effectively and professionally managing direct mail and especially transactional mail can become quite complex and often requires additional software and equipment, new processing steps and may demand intelligent inserters. In no particular order of importance, consider your answers to the following...
  • Do you have up-to-date NCOA (National Change of Address) software?
  • Direct mail and transactional mail travel at different speeds and are charged different rates. How can you take advantage of these? For instance, how do you ensure you are providing the lowest possible postage rates based on volume, type of mail, or route-sequence sortation?
  • The USPS can be very picky about what they will accept. Do you have a relationship with the local post office/postmaster to address postal concerns?
  • How are you avoiding being taxed (perhaps by your state) on postage, which is usually the largest cost in mailing? (by the way, your accountant may not know!)
  • Are you allowing customers to use your postage indica for mailings?
  • How will you handle mail returned due to incorrect addressing?
  • How easily can you reprint mail pieces that are damaged or must be re-sent?
  • You may already print plain-faced envelopes on an existing press. How well does the press used keep up with the volume of direct mail or transactional documents you now would like to produce?
  • Do you use a dedicated press for envelopes or split its time with other work?
  • Can you create self-sealed mailers that do not require an envelope?
  • Do all the documents you print work correctly in window envelopes? There are several flavors of such envelopes, so documents must be printed to ensure a recipient’s’ name and address displays correctly in the window.
  • Are names and addresses you use formatted correctly for high-speed sortation by the USPS?
  • Does the return address on an outgoing envelope specify your company or that of your client?
  • Are you handling incoming direct response mail for customers?
  • Are you equipped and staffed to process a volume of return mail?
  • Are you using intelligent inserters? Is their software up to date?
  • Are people running your intelligent inserters sufficiently trained?
  • Is your production team trained and ready for a print-and-mail workflow?
  • Do your inserters or other equipment also seal the envelope?
  • Do you plan to handle fulfillment as well as mailing?
  • Do you have space in your facility to store the forms, envelopes and fulfillment materials clients’ mailings will require, or do you have arrangements with a third-party supplier for these needs?
  • How quickly can you print and mail 10,000 pieces with up to four pages? How about 25,000? What about 50,000?
  • How many pages can your folders handle?
  • Have you helped customers transition from pre-printed forms to white paper?
  • Have you added cybersecurity to protect names and addresses and other data from cyber-intrusion?
  • Do you carry cyber-insurance? How much?
These cover some of the concerns that must be addressed before you can seriously and regularly take on anything more than occasional local low-volume mailing. Prospective customers may ask some of these questions too. Be sure you have answers to these questions and how your mail processing workflow works so you aren’t caught flat-footed if (or when) things go sideways. Trust me when I say you don’t want to be on the receiving end of a call when things don’t go as planned. You can get around some of this by hiring people who live and breathe mail. This adds what can be a costly headcount, but you still need a full understanding of all the processes.

Mailing services can be an excellent extension of your present operation, but it requires a different and well-thought-out approach. Be prepared! And careful!
 
Hell I can't even get customers to send a proper list for mailing half the time. Not to mention we have to do everything 100% correct for USPS or we get fined, but if they screw up it's OK. Like the time we had an entire carrier route came back as UAA only to find out the carrier just didn't want to deliver the mail that day.
We do very little transactional mail but if I had to do it again I would skip the mailing aspect. What a pain in the ass keeping up with all the stupid USPS changes dealing with crap data and having to explain why addresses are undeliverable to the client.
 
Hell I can't even get customers to send a proper list for mailing half the time. Not to mention we have to do everything 100% correct for USPS or we get fined, but if they screw up it's OK. Like the time we had an entire carrier route came back as UAA only to find out the carrier just didn't want to deliver the mail that day.
We do very little transactional mail but if I had to do it again I would skip the mailing aspect. What a pain in the ass keeping up with all the stupid USPS changes dealing with crap data and having to explain why addresses are undeliverable to the client.
Unfortunately, the experiences you site are not uncommon! Transactional mail, which is all first-class, is really tricky. Standard Mail (aka Junk Mail) is easier, but list quality can be an unending problem. I do work with a group of both types of service bureaus. The moving parts of mail and the USPS are constant sources of worry and problems.
 
Instead of putting forth a very good option of generating an additional revenue stream for print shops, it sounds like the thread is actually attempting to dissuade them from doing so.

I've been in the print and mail industry for over 40 years. I'm retired now, but, still do a little consulting on the side for small to medium shops that need help adding mail to their services.

Here are my thoughts:

The previous posts seem to devote an inordinate amount of time on list quality and mailability. Those were indeed big issues many years ago, but, not so much these days. Postal regulations mandate that, in order to qualify for a discount on your postage, your mail list must be CASS certified within the last 60 days. "CASS" or "Coding Accuracy Support System" postal standardizes your mail list, corrects your zips codes, appends the plus 4 at the end of the zip code, and will give you warning codes that you may be missing part of the address (street directional prefix, apartment #, etc.). In most cases, this process is performed automatically by your presort software.

Another requirement by the USPS, which decreases the amount of Undeliverable As Addressed returns is their "Move/Update" regulation. In order to qualify for a postage discount, your mailing list must have been run up against their NCOA (National Change Of Address) file within the last 180 days prior to mailing. Again, most presort software will handle this as part of your file preparation procedure.

For shops that do not have a budget to lease presort software, there are several options out there that are SaaS (Software as a Service) wherein you can transmit your mail file to their server, and they do all the processes and send it back to you.

If I were going to advise a shop on the major difference between
just print, and, print and mail, is "sequence workflow". You see, if you are just printing brochures, or, sales slicks, it really doesn't matter what sequence each piece is in when they come off the press, the cutter, or the folder. Ahhh, but, if you are printing pieces that are going to be mailed, sequence is everything. The entire job must be kept in presort sequence through every step of the bindery. Are you printing the pieces multiple up, or, just 1-up. When the pieces come out of the digital printer, are they being spit out face-up, or, face-down? When it goes to the folder, cutter, or inserter, you must ensure that pieces stay in the sequential order to match the mail sort.

It's not really that hard to learn. Does it take effort? Absolutely. Will you be rewarded for that effort. Without a doubt.
 
Hell I can't even get customers to send a proper list for mailing half the time. Not to mention we have to do everything 100% correct for USPS or we get fined, but if they screw up it's OK. Like the time we had an entire carrier route came back as UAA only to find out the carrier just didn't want to deliver the mail that day.
We do very little transactional mail but if I had to do it again I would skip the mailing aspect. What a pain in the ass keeping up with all the stupid USPS changes dealing with crap data and having to explain why addresses are undeliverable to the client.
The entire issue is that you are mailing to an identity and an address. The address is worthless, you only care about the identity that should receive the mail. I have an idea I'll pitch to the USPS in the next 2 years about how to remove all of this stupid crap regarding addresses. There is no reason to require mailers to print anything other than an identity on a mailpiece. Scanners can very easily interpret the indentity's current address (if it is stored in a single location), and route the mailpiece to where it needs to go. The only issue is that humans can't read this particular identity, so I'd imagine somewhere in the last few steps the USPS imprints the human-readable address on the mailpiece. You could theoretically move as much as you'd like and the mailpieces would do a pretty good job following you around, as long as you didn't move faster than it took mailpieces to move through the USPS from beginning to end.

I've probably done a poor job of explaining this, partially intentionally, but I've reasoned it out with a few other people and it's sound. If you want an example of the identity, just think of something like a Twitter handle or thereabouts, something unique, but more like an IP Address or blockchain address, but still not any of these.

But if the USPS chose to implement this, you would, in the future, only buy lists containing identities, no addresses. And plus, storing identities of individuals is a security issue, so we should get away from this.

Also, this is part of a much larger system, and this solution would only be a byproduct of its design. You can and will be able to "email" this very same identity. Imagine buying a list, where the same single identity can be both emailed and mailed to.
 
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Wow Priceline! You are truly an innovative thinker! If there's anything I can do to help, feel free!
 
The entire issue is that you are mailing to an identity and an address. The address is worthless, you only care about the identity that should receive the mail. I have an idea I'll pitch to the USPS in the next 2 years about how to remove all of this stupid crap regarding addresses. There is no reason to require mailers to print anything other than an identity on a mailpiece. Scanners can very easily interpret the indentity's current address (if it is stored in a single location), and route the mailpiece to where it needs to go. The only issue is that humans can't read this particular identity, so I'd imagine somewhere in the last few steps the USPS imprints the human-readable address on the mailpiece. You could theoretically move as much as you'd like and the mailpieces would do a pretty good job following you around, as long as you didn't move faster than it took mailpieces to move through the USPS from beginning to end.

I've probably done a poor job of explaining this, partially intentionally, but I've reasoned it out with a few other people and it's sound. If you want an example of the identity, just think of something like a Twitter handle or thereabouts, something unique, but more like an IP Address or blockchain address, but still not any of these.

But if the USPS chose to implement this, you would, in the future, only buy lists containing identities, no addresses. And plus, storing identities of individuals is a security issue, so we should get away from this.

Also, this is part of a much larger system, and this solution would only be a byproduct of its design. You can and will be able to "email" this very same identity. Imagine buying a list, where the same single identity can be both emailed and mailed to.
That is a really bloody good idea. Hopefully we see it come into play.
 
In order to make it viable, wherever the "master data base" is housed, would also need to carry the three "graphics": (geo, demo, and psycho)

Here are real-world actual examples:

Geographic:
New Italian Restaurant opening in the neighborhood: "I need a mail list of all businesses and residences withing a 5-maile radius of 123 E Main St, Orlando, FL, 32810"

Selling Snow Blowers: "I need a mail list of all residences in upstate New York, Chicago, Minnesota, and Iowa"

Demographic:
To sell annual passes at a theme park: "I need a list of all residences within a150-mile radius of zip code 32837 with an average household income of $75,000 & up with the existence of children in the home ages 5 to 15"

For an automobile dealer: "I need a list of all Ford owners, years 2016 and older, within a 50-mile radius of 5124 N Colonial Cr, Sanford, FL 32703"

For a boat dealership "I need a list of all boat owners 16 to 24 feet, within a 100-mile radius of zip code 32850"

Pool Service & Supplies Company: "I need a list of home owners in Volusia County, Homes valued at $350k & Up, Single Family dwelling units, household income of $80,000 & up, with the existence of an inground pool"

Psychographic:
For a non-profit soliciting donations: "I need a list of people in the Central Florida Area, average household income of $150k & up, who have donated to other non-profits"

For a classic car swap meet: "I need a list of people in the state of Florida that subscribe to Classic Muscle Car Magazine, or, have organic internet searches related to classic cars.
 
In order to make it viable, wherever the "master data base" is housed, would also need to carry the three "graphics": (geo, demo, and psycho)

Here are real-world actual examples:

Geographic:
New Italian Restaurant opening in the neighborhood: "I need a mail list of all businesses and residences withing a 5-maile radius of 123 E Main St, Orlando, FL, 32810"

Selling Snow Blowers: "I need a mail list of all residences in upstate New York, Chicago, Minnesota, and Iowa"

Demographic:
To sell annual passes at a theme park: "I need a list of all residences within a150-mile radius of zip code 32837 with an average household income of $75,000 & up with the existence of children in the home ages 5 to 15"

For an automobile dealer: "I need a list of all Ford owners, years 2016 and older, within a 50-mile radius of 5124 N Colonial Cr, Sanford, FL 32703"

For a boat dealership "I need a list of all boat owners 16 to 24 feet, within a 100-mile radius of zip code 32850"

Pool Service & Supplies Company: "I need a list of home owners in Volusia County, Homes valued at $350k & Up, Single Family dwelling units, household income of $80,000 & up, with the existence of an inground pool"

Psychographic:
For a non-profit soliciting donations: "I need a list of people in the Central Florida Area, average household income of $150k & up, who have donated to other non-profits"

For a classic car swap meet: "I need a list of people in the state of Florida that subscribe to Classic Muscle Car Magazine, or, have organic internet searches related to classic cars.
Location and identities are two separate things, and the partially overlapping part is something I don't have a perfect solution to. This solves for the high friction issue of getting/updating/correcting the address to the identity. The address system doesn't need to change in my opinion.
 
The entire issue is that you are mailing to an identity and an address. The address is worthless, you only care about the identity that should receive the mail. I have an idea I'll pitch to the USPS in the next 2 years about how to remove all of this stupid crap regarding addresses. There is no reason to require mailers to print anything other than an identity on a mailpiece. Scanners can very easily interpret the indentity's current address (if it is stored in a single location), and route the mailpiece to where it needs to go. The only issue is that humans can't read this particular identity, so I'd imagine somewhere in the last few steps the USPS imprints the human-readable address on the mailpiece. You could theoretically move as much as you'd like and the mailpieces would do a pretty good job following you around, as long as you didn't move faster than it took mailpieces to move through the USPS from beginning to end.

I've probably done a poor job of explaining this, partially intentionally, but I've reasoned it out with a few other people and it's sound. If you want an example of the identity, just think of something like a Twitter handle or thereabouts, something unique, but more like an IP Address or blockchain address, but still not any of these.

But if the USPS chose to implement this, you would, in the future, only buy lists containing identities, no addresses. And plus, storing identities of individuals is a security issue, so we should get away from this.

Also, this is part of a much larger system, and this solution would only be a byproduct of its design. You can and will be able to "email" this very same identity. Imagine buying a list, where the same single identity can be both emailed and mailed to.
I understand what you are saying, but what you suggest already happens with retail first class mail. The pieces gets scanned and if there is a change of address on record the USPS sends it where it needs to go. In the case of presorted mail, we are getting the discounts to sort the mail so the USPS doesn't have to. If everything was just an identity, how would we presort? Either everything would have to go through the USPS sorting equipment, so no incentive to offer a discount to the mailer, OR, to presort we would need access to the postal data to be sure everything is routed properly. That is basically what we already have with CASS, NCOA, and sort tables. Then, as you say, somewhere down the line the human readable address would have to be added to the piece by the USPS for the carrier, which means the postal scanners and lookups are still involved. If we are presorting with the postal data, the ideal place to add the imprint would be at the point of presort.

That brings us back to where we are now. What we have in place works. Granted, the NCOA system needs work. It is slow to update, sometimes getting a move update 2 months after the move date. It allows people to add bad move data, resulting in "error in primary". New builds are slow getting into the postal database, so new homeowners are in limbo.
 
I understand what you are saying, but what you suggest already happens with retail first class mail. The pieces gets scanned and if there is a change of address on record the USPS sends it where it needs to go. In the case of presorted mail, we are getting the discounts to sort the mail so the USPS doesn't have to. If everything was just an identity, how would we presort? Either everything would have to go through the USPS sorting equipment, so no incentive to offer a discount to the mailer, OR, to presort we would need access to the postal data to be sure everything is routed properly. That is basically what we already have with CASS, NCOA, and sort tables. Then, as you say, somewhere down the line the human readable address would have to be added to the piece by the USPS for the carrier, which means the postal scanners and lookups are still involved. If we are presorting with the postal data, the ideal place to add the imprint would be at the point of presort.

That brings us back to where we are now. What we have in place works. Granted, the NCOA system needs work. It is slow to update, sometimes getting a move update 2 months after the move date. It allows people to add bad move data, resulting in "error in primary". New builds are slow getting into the postal database, so new homeowners are in limbo.
These are valid points, and I would say the system more perfectly addresses the NCOA system being inadequate and the data entropy problem. There are trade-offs between security and efficiency for sure, if the mailer presorts, then it is likely a trade off in favor of efficiency, but you are certainly compromising security of the identity's address. And of course in the opposite direction.
 
Back when the IMb was being implemented, I did some digital printing for the USPS test mailings before launch. The card had a return address, G-10 permit, and an IMb. That's it. It mailed from Merrifield, VA and was targeting all states. It had 100% success. I don't know how the carrier knew where to drop it. My guess is that it was just collated into the carrier's bundle with other mail which had an address. It does make me wonder how much actually needs to be visible on the piece in human readable form. Perhaps they just need the number and suite if necessary. A carrier could also scan the IMb to get the final delivery address. I'm not sure how secure address data can ever be without taking the presort option out of the equation and removing that information from public access. ZIP+4+DP should be all we need for mailing purposes, or other purposes for that matter. I would much rather write 11 digits than an entire address on an application. I think change of address requests should require ZIP+4+DP. You request it from the local PO serving your address. If they can't give it to you, there is a problem that needs to be fixed. Think of it. No misspellings. No missing directionals. No missing suffix. And it is not easily converted into a street address by prying eyes unless you have access to a good database.

I like the way you are thinking, just not sure how to achieve it. I'm eager to hear more when you develop it.
 
Back when the IMb was being implemented, I did some digital printing for the USPS test mailings before launch. The card had a return address, G-10 permit, and an IMb. That's it. It mailed from Merrifield, VA and was targeting all states. It had 100% success. I don't know how the carrier knew where to drop it. My guess is that it was just collated into the carrier's bundle with other mail which had an address. It does make me wonder how much actually needs to be visible on the piece in human readable form. Perhaps they just need the number and suite if necessary. A carrier could also scan the IMb to get the final delivery address. I'm not sure how secure address data can ever be without taking the presort option out of the equation and removing that information from public access. ZIP+4+DP should be all we need for mailing purposes, or other purposes for that matter. I would much rather write 11 digits than an entire address on an application. I think change of address requests should require ZIP+4+DP. You request it from the local PO serving your address. If they can't give it to you, there is a problem that needs to be fixed. Think of it. No misspellings. No missing directionals. No missing suffix. And it is not easily converted into a street address by prying eyes unless you have access to a good database.

I like the way you are thinking, just not sure how to achieve it. I'm eager to hear more when you develop it.
That's very interesting. Honestly if you want to do a voicecall or something at some point just DM me and we can arrange it.
 
Only a USPS test run with the g-10 permit would get 100% scan rate come on! .... LOL


Did I just post that? now my next mailing will get lost all together ... eeeek
 
Only a USPS test run with the g-10 permit would get 100% scan rate come on! .... LOL


Did I just post that? now my next mailing will get lost all together ... eeeek
100% delivery. Of course, all the recipients were postal employee home addresses throughout the country.
 
I'm not sure what to think of this one. It seems close to my suggestion of using the IMb and leaving all the other info off except for number and suite. On the "Special Code" I see the delivery point and apartment number. Not sure what the 99 is. Possibly derived from the +4 to identify the street. Also not sure how the letters benefit the carrier. I don't think they will be wearing their secret decoder ring, so why put it on there? You could print an IMb with 99 01 34 above it and I think you would have the same result. I would love to see a real IMb for that.
 
I'm not sure what to think of this one. It seems close to my suggestion of using the IMb and leaving all the other info off except for number and suite. On the "Special Code" I see the delivery point and apartment number. Not sure what the 99 is. Possibly derived from the +4 to identify the street. Also not sure how the letters benefit the carrier. I don't think they will be wearing their secret decoder ring, so why put it on there? You could print an IMb with 99 01 34 above it and I think you would have the same result. I would love to see a real IMb for that.

Powerpoint with those details: https://postalpro.usps.com/node/7711

Most recent update on Informed Addressing, they have put it on pause: https://postalpro.usps.com/node/12004
 

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