subject: Direct Mail Marketing - What You Need To Know About Postal Automation And Bulk Mailing Discounts [print this page] The Post Office provides discounts to mailers based on the class of service (First Class, Standard Class, or Non-Profit), and by barcoding (helping the Post Office automate their processes). Here's a run-down of what you need to know to automate your mailings and use a bulk mail permit. The information is certainly not complete; the Postal Service has hundreds of pages of specification in their Direct Mail Manual. This, though, should cover the basics.
Postal Class.
The basic postal classes are First Class, Standard Class and Non-Profit. First Class is the most expensive, but delivery is almost guaranteed 1-4 days. Standard Class and Non-Profit are both discounted classes because delivery can take on average 7-10 business days. Delivery times vary based on the distance the mail piece travels from where it is dropped off. If Standard Class mail is dropped off in the same city that it's being delivered in, the delivery can be as fast as First Class. If you're mailing across the country, Standard Class can be 2 weeks or more. Never mail time-sensitive mailings Standard Class. As a rule, Standard Class is trucked, First Class flies.
Mail Piece Sizes.
The Postal Service has a variety of size and weight classifications. The 2 main classifications are Letters and Flats. Letters have the deepest postage discounts. Letters are any mailings under 6 x 11 and over 3.5 x 5. The Letter classification also includes Postcards which are less than 4.25 x 6. There is an additional First Class discount for Postcards. Letters also need to be within a ratio of length to width of less than 1.3 and no more than 2.5 (so you can't get a Letter classification for a square mailing). Flats are generally larger than Letters or outside of the Letter length to width ratio.
Postal Permit or Indicia. For any postage discounts a mailer must have a Postal Permit issued by the Post Office. There is a cost of approximately $175 for the permit and there are pages of rules for using it correctly. The permit number is printed above and to the right of the address. This printed permit number is called an "Indicia." You need a minimum number of pieces to use your Postal Permit, usually 200 or more, but the number varies by class.
Pre-Sorting Software.
Postage discounts are generally divided into "Automation" and "Non-Automation." Automation refers to mailings that are CASS certified, NCOA'd, bar-coded and correctly sorted. To do automation mailings and get the best discounts, you need pre-sorting software such as Bulk Mailer by Satori or Mailers+4 by Melissa Data. The software is complicated and expensive, and not for the casual mailer.
CASS Certification.
CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System) is software that compares a mailing list to the standardized list from the Postal Service. Where there is a match, the address in the mailing list is corrected to conform to the standardized version. "Street" is changed to "St," misspelled street names are corrected, and zip codes are changed to zip+4. It's not necessary to have 100% CASS certified addresses, but only CASS certified address can get automation discounts.
NCOA.
National Change of Address. The Postal Service now requires all mailers that want automation discounts to run their mailing list against the NCOA database or list. The NCOA list typically goes back 4 years and tracks moves. Keep in mind, though, that if a person doesn't fill out a "Forwarding Address" form at the Post Office, then their move information will not be in the NCOA database.
Manual Pre-Sorting.
You can do non-automation mailings with your Postal Permit by manually pre-sorting. CASS certification, NCOA and barcodes are not needed. Manually presorting involves bringing your mailing to a Post Office that accepts bulk mailings (see Business Mail Entry Facility), then manually sorting the pieces into trays by zip code, etc. There are forms to fill out and procedures to follow. It's not fun and the Non-Automated discounts, with the exception of Non-profit, are hardly worth it.
Barcoding. Barcodes on a mail piece are only required for automation mailings. Again, you need bulk mailing software to do automation mailings. The numbers in the barcode are simply the zip+4 numbers. Typically your mailing software also has print drivers to do your addressing. You can also use "Mail Merge" in Microsoft Word, but installing and successfully using the Postnet barcode font is for the tech-savvy only.
Addressing Standards.
The Postal Service uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software to read all mail using a Postal Permit. The OCR software only reads black typed letters and only in specific places on the mailed piece. As a result, there are strict addressing specifications. The Postal Service offers a free see-through placement guide that you can use to line up your addresses correctly. The guide also has all the font and spacing requirement. You can pick one up free at most local Post Offices.
Business Mail Entry Unit.
Also called the BMEU. To use your Postal Permit, you can only drop your direct mail pieces off at the BMEU. It's best to ask someone at your local Post Office for the nearest location. The folks at the BMEU are usually very helpful and can walk you through the process of preparing your mailing for both automation and non-automation discounts.
