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Getting Smart About Intelligent Mail®
Provides insight into the 2009 USPS® Intelligent Mail Barcode requirements and how you can leverage and optimize the new intelligence across your mailstream.
Intelligent Mail® Barcode Basics
This section of our Intelligent Mail® Barcode content provides information about the structure and functionality of the Intelligent Mail Barcode.
What Is the Intelligent Mail® Barcode?
The Intelligent Mail® Barcode is a multi-service barcode that uses a four-state technology — as opposed to the two-state technology used in POSTNET™ and PLANET® barcodes — and combines the capabilities of POSTNET™ and PLANET® barcodes into one unique barcode.
This unique barcode is composed of trackers, ascenders, descenders and full bars — more commonly known as TADFs. These TADFs represent the data in the barcode. Since more data can be encoded with four-states instead of two, the Intelligent Mail® Barcode is able to contain more information per given footprint.
At the same time, the Intelligent Mail® Barcode continues to contain the familiar field-like routing ZIP® that is currently part of the POSTNET™ barcode. This routing ZIP® is a result of the CASS™ and Move Update address correction process.
Additionally, the Intelligent Mail® Barcode contains new fields such as the service code, the mailer ID information, and more importantly, the new mail piece ID.
Why Did the USPS Change the Barcode?
The Intelligent Mail® Barcode is part of the USPS’ aggressive pursuit of an Intelligent Mail program, which promises to help both the customer and the USPS.
Intelligent Mail® Barcode Benefits Everyone
Customers will see an increase in the level of service provided by the USPS, and the USPS will be able to control costs in the face of new rate increase limits, higher fuel costs and changing workforce skills.
To achieve their Intelligent Mail objectives, the USPS designed and deployed IMBs and labels to most optimally deliver and track letters, flats, trays, and containers.
While this service monitoring and reporting by the USPS is a requirement of the Postal Reform Act, it also allows mailers to better predict, identify, and react to mail delivery challenges and opportunities.
Unique Identification Is Essential
It is important that the USPS be able to identify two things on every mail piece:
- The mail owner
- Other attributes such as delivery point
Neither of these characteristics is available with the current POSTNET™ technology.
The Intelligent Mail® Barcode, however, contains the subscriber ID field to allow association of the mail piece to a given mail owner, as well as the sequence number field which is assigned and managed during barcode generation.
These ID requirements present two key challenges for mailers preparing to make the transition to Intelligent Mail® Barcode:
- Sequence ID assignments for each subscriber ID must be managed to ensure uniqueness
- Mailers must associate and store an enterprise key with the subscriber ID
Making the Transition to Intelligent Mail® Barcode
Mailers have a choice implementing IMB: They can do the bare minimum needed to comply with a mandated migration to the Intelligent Mail® Barcode, or they can take advantage of Intelligent Mail® Barcode to further improve their production and address management processes.
Minimum Intelligent Mail® Barcode Compliance
For minimum compliance with Intelligent Mail® Barcode for letter mail, mailers would create the Intelligent Mail® Barcode using their:
- Mailer ID (previously named business entity ID)
- Some other static information
- ZIP Code
Mailers must also modify their print jobs and every print stream to generate the new barcode across the organization.
Further, every print stream must be cataloged in order for your organization to determine the best way to generate a unique key for all of your mail pieces.
This rudimentary level of implementation, however, only benefits the USPS, which will be able to measure a mailer’s UAA to determine whether Move Update requirements are being met.
Unless there is a unique identifier in the Intelligent Mail® Barcode on the mail piece, it will do little to help the mailer. That is why mailers planning their migration to the IMB should do so in a way that allows them to derive the maximum benefits.
Maximize the Benefits of Intelligent Mail® Barcode
Going beyond the Intelligent Mail® Barcode bare minimum can give mailers a competitive advantage with:
- Cross channel messaging
- Multi-channel account management
- Cost reduction
- Enterprise address management
- Proof of mailing Confirm™ applications
- Transpromo
Reduce ACS Costs
OneCode ACS™ is an automated version of the USPS Address Change Service. By implementing Intelligent Mail® Barcode, letter mailers using ACS get the first two electronic forwarding notices free and then pay only five cents thereafter.
For Standard Mail letters, the first two notices are only two cents and each additional electronic notice is fifteen cents.
Optimize ACS Return Data
In order to make optimal use of ACS return data, mailers need to use the 6 to 9 digit mailing ID section of the Intelligent Mail® Barcode to uniquely identify the addressee. However, in most cases 9 digits is not long enough to accommodate customer account codes or other existing customer IDs and identify the source of this data such as a line of business or product.
This can be overcome by assigning the six or nine digit mailing ID to a sequential number and creating a cross-reference file that includes:
- The sequential number or the whole Intelligent Mail® Barcode
- The account information
- Anything else needed to find the address record
Then, when electronic ACS notice information is returned, the source mailing list records can be easily retrieved for updating or to trigger a process of obtaining consent to change the address if needed.
Enterprise Address Management
By assigning an Intelligent Mail® Barcode number that is unique to an addressee, that number could be used by any addressing process (CASS, NCOALink™, FastForward™, etc.) to provide changes and corrections back to the enterprise.
USPS OneCode Confirm™
Another use of the Intelligent Mail® Barcode is the USPS OneCode Confirm™ program. The Intelligent Mail® Barcode can uniquely identify the mailing ID or the mailing ID and the addressee, in order to take advantage of typical Confirm services:
- Service performance tracking
- Predicting mail delivery to staff a call center
- Proof of mailing applications
- Track and trace on high value mail (credit cards, large dollar value statements, response-required documents, etc.).
Transpromo Support
By making the Intelligent Mail® Barcode unique to both the mailing and addressee, mailers can identify mail pieces in file based inserting and production audit systems even before the piece is mailed. This provides support for downstream marketing promotions printed on transaction documents, or “Transpromo.”
Business Considerations for Deploying Intelligent Mail® Barcode
Generating the Intelligent Mail® Barcode
At the outset, it is important to understand the three steps to generating the Intelligent Mail® Barcode:
- Payload assignment: determines what data goes into which fields
- Encoding: takes the data, adds error correction, and outputs to a TADF
- Rendering: converts the TADF to a graphical representation of the IMB
Print Streams & Mailstreams
More than considering your barcode strategy, the deployment of the Intelligent Mail® Barcode requires you also catalog and analyze each automated print stream, ensuring on-time implementations. The larger the enterprise and more dissimilar the mailstreams, the more planning required.
To achieve true effectiveness, each mailstream must be analyzed and the appropriate actions taken. To help with the transition, your business should implement the following recommendations:
- Implement Intelligent Mail® Barcode services for each mailstream — business needs change rapidly and reverse implementation is not cost effective
- Enforce minimal standard implementations of the Intelligent Mail® Barcode
- Develop uniform processes for sharing information between your business and your outsourced business partner — this is critical for unique IDs and compliance information
Plan for Intelligent Mail® Barcode Now
It is important to immediately begin planning for the Intelligent Mail® Barcode. The first steps include:
- Bringing your partners in for a formal Intelligent Mail® Barcode consulting assessment and analysis
- Use this analysis to work with all stakeholders to develop a plan and secure budgets to support success
Get an Intelligent Mail® Barcode Assessment
Group 1’s Intelligent Mail® Barcode Assessment is a service that provides organizations with professional insight into the Intelligent Mail® Barcode issues and opportunities that exist within their enterprise.