March 2005 Issue 33
Notice:
Due to a work related
seminar, that is available only for a limited time, Central Mail Services will
be altering the morning route time on March 9, 2005.
The morning route
will leave CMS at
If you have questions please contact Connie at 2-7751.
We have lived in a world of high technology for some time
now. It continues in every
facet of our lives. The USPS is no different. Over the years, they have gone
from sorting
mail by hand to sorting by machine. Because of this technology, correct mail
piece design
and correct addressing is of utmost important when attempting to send your mail
out in
the most efficient and economical way possible. It does not matter
whether you send one
piece or thousands, the mail piece needs to be automation compatible. The
following articles pertain to definitions, size, shape, and addressing tips. Please
feel free to post or use them as training tools for those working with and
designing your mail.
http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm200/retail.htm#understanding
Mail Class Preparation classes are held once or twice a year depending on the interest. Questions can be directed to Connie Moseler at 2-7751 or to centralmailservices@ksu.edu.
7 Steps To Better Deliverability
The cost of poorly addressed mail is absolutely staggering. Businesses should be taking advantage of the many tools that have been developed for cleaning addresses before mailing.
Sophisticated matching and cleansing products that will correct the city, state, ZIP combination and apply a ZIP+4. The National Change of Address (NCOA) processes and updates records of people who have moved. (Note: NCOA does not change bad addresses of those who have not moved.
To ensure correct hygiene, mailers should consider the following:
1. Always capture the customer’s mailing address – clarify with “where you receive your mail.” If the customer has a different address for UPS or package delivery, then capture that as a separate “Ship to” address.
2. On phone orders, teach your staff to always ask for the spelling of all names--first and last names, street name, and be sure to confirm the city, state and zip code combination. Make certain that your staff knows the correct two letter state code abbreviations. Misspellings and miskeyed city, state, zip combinations account for a huge portion of missed matches, even with current zip correction routines (and add extra surcharges to your monthly shipping bill if using a delivery company other than the USPS).
3. Ask every customer if there is an apartment or suite number for the street address. Many folks do not volunteer this information because “The UPS driver knows where we are…” etc. But NCOA will not allow an update match if you do not have an apartment number for a record that needs one. Tests conducted by the U.S. Postal Service indicate that apartment addresses have the highest rate of non-delivery for Standard Mail.
4. Make every effort to capture the customer’s full first name – not just the initial – as NCOA will not allow a match to be made on an individual’s move without it. An estimated 15% or more of postal customers move every year!
5. Capture
all street suffixes such as Rd., Ave., Blvd. and any directional elements such
as NW or SW. Absence of these important address elements account for a large
portion of misguided or non-codable mail. For example, the city of
6. Always place the primary delivery address directly above the city, state, ZIP line. Place the secondary address (apartment, c/o, company name) above that. Postal addresses are read from the bottom up.
7. Double-check all data
entry before filing it into the database. Once its entered, a data entry error
tends to take on a life of its own, much like an insidious virus. Double-check
all data before and after any data conversions.
Contract Post Office Corner
Once again we have a new stamp program offered by the United States Postal Service. If you would like to see the whole year’s program you can follow this link: http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/bulletin/2005/html/pb22146/spread.html
Just remember that the stamps are issued throughout the year, so they are not all available at the same time.
If you have questions please contact