How-to Guides, Postage and Mailing, USPS
USPS Guide: Certified Mail, Move Update, Mailer Scorecard, Address Cleansing
on November 21, 2023
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has so many tools, services, mail types, discounts, regulations and other lesser-known tips and tricks that can be hard to wrap your head around. To add clarity, we’ve put together a USPS guide to help manage and leverage the many different services that the USPS offers. You can also reference FSSI’s Glossary of USPS Mailing Terms, where we define many of the Postal Service’s terms, acronyms, services and more. Listed below are the USPS services that will be covered in this guide:
Partnering with a mail outsourcing provider is the best way for companies to utilize the USPS tools and services listed in this article. Not only do mail providers know of the latest postal promotions, regulations and updates, but they can also help your company maximize postage savings and increase audience engagement. Mail providers have access to presort and commingling for greater postage discounts, state-of-the-art mailing equipment, and tracking and reporting for greater workflow transparency.
Businesses that handle mail in-house can still benefit from USPS tools and services, but not with the same ease and optimization as an outsourced mail service partner. With that in mind, let’s jump into your USPS guide.
Certified Mail®: USPS’s Secure Delivery Solution
Certified Mail is exclusive to the United States Postal Service. It refers to providing the sender with a mailing receipt and electronic verification that mail was delivered or that a delivery attempt was made. Only First-Class Mail® or Priority Mail® can be sent as Certified Mail. Additionally, the service is only available for delivery within the United States.
Who Uses Certified Mail?
Due to business and regulatory reasons, many companies send Certified Mail. This offers companies proof of mailing, secure delivery, as well as archival of proof of delivery.
What is the Difference Between Certified and Registered Mail®?
The main difference between Certified Mail and Registered Mail is an additional layer of security. Registered Mail adds another level of protection with specific sealing and packaging requirements as well as staying in a locked safe when transported. These differences tend to make Registered Mail costlier for businesses, but Certified Mail is highly secure as well. Learn more about the benefits of Certified Mail below:
Benefits of Certified Mail
- Creates a sense of urgency
- Proof of Mailing verifies when the mail was sent
- Return Receipts verify when mail was delivered
- Mailpiece tracking uses barcodes to track each mailpiece
- Prioritized delivery ensures delivery within one to three days
- P.O. boxes can receive delivery of certified mail
- Records for archival are provided with every certified mailing
Certified mail helps simplify the proof of mailing process; however, keeping track of receipts can become cumbersome when dealing with high volumes of mail. FSSI’s electronic solution solves this problem for businesses.
FSSI’s Electronic Certified Mail Solution – eCertify™
Cataloging and finding the hardcopy “green cards” of these important Certified Mail documents is difficult to manage and expensive for companies, using the traditional methods. FSSI’s eCertify tool simplifies the process by creating and printing the required labels in line with the actual document to be mailed and inserting them into a special Certified Mail window envelope, resulting in high-quality, secure processing. The delivery confirmation is then posted online, including the signature from the recipient and the reasons for non-delivery, if applicable.
Electronic Delivery Confirmations and Return Receipt Signatures are posted online within hours of receiving a signature for a document. FSSI can also transmit this same information for upload into clients’ in-house archival systems.
USPS Mailer Scorecard Guide
What is the USPS Mailer Scorecard?
The Mailer Scorecard is the Postal Service’s effort to assess mail preparation and whether the mailer earned the workshare discounts that offset the costs for the Postal Service to handle it. The Mailer Scorecard provides a dashboard view of the results of the letter and flat mailing activity with the Postal Service over a calendar month. The USPS Mailer Scorecard consists of five sections:
- Mailer Profile – This tab provides a summary of volume by mail class, eDocument types and total revenue in a month.
- Electronic Verification – This tab provides results from Full-Service preparation requirements, Move Update compliance and presort preparation requirements.
- eInduction – This tab provides an overview of the number of containers on eInduction and the number or eInduction validation errors.
- Seamless Acceptance – For mailers participating in Seamless Acceptance or Seamless Parallel, this tab provides an overview of the verification results, including undocumented nesting/sortation, delivery point validation, etc.
- Service Performance Measurement (SPM) – For Full-Service mailers, this tab provides an overview of the number of mailpieces that were excluded from measurement due to one or more issues.
How Do Mailer Scorecard Scores and Updates Work?
The Mailer Scorecard is updated monthly using color codes to address areas of concern or in need of improvement and are color coded: Green, Red and Yellow.
- Green – The percent metric value has improved by more than 5% from the previous month
- Red – The percent metric value has declined by more than 5% from the previous month
- Yellow – Percent metric value exceeds the threshold established by the USPS
Postage Optimization: Maximizing Savings and Efficiency
Optimizing postage costs is crucial for efficient mail management. Explore key areas for postal optimization, including address management, presort discounts, Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMb) usage, commingling, co-palletization, USPS postage promotions, standard-size mailpieces, paper stock selection, and high-volume discounts.
Discover how these strategies can help your business save on postage expenses and enhance your mailing campaigns.
Postal Optimization Categories
- Address Management
- Presort Discounts
- Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMb)
- Commingling and Co-Palletization
- USPS Postage Promotions
- Using Standard Size Mailpieces
- Using the Right Paper Stock
- High-Volume Discounts
Address Management
The hygiene of your address database is the first place you should look for postal discounts. Diligent address management, which includes pinpointing bad addresses, duplicate addresses, and multiple mailpieces being sent to the same household, can make a big impact on wasteful postage costs. By simply sifting through the data, you can quickly identify the accuracy of your data and make changes to optimize your costs.
Presort Discounts
The USPS manages and sorts millions of pieces of mail each day. Did you know that the USPS offers significant discounts for mailers that presort their mail by zip code? This process results in lower postage because you’re doing the legwork for the post office. Since it costs the USPS less to process and deliver the mailpieces, the savings are passed on to you, making this option a worthwhile undertaking to curb postage costs.
Intelligent Mail® Barcode
Utilizing the Intelligent Mail® Barcode (IMb) enables you to get the lowest automation rates (if all other automation requirements are met) and qualify for participation in other USPS service programs. The IMb was created by the USPS and is a 65-bar Postal Service™ barcode that allows mailers to simultaneously use a single barcode across several different services and programs. It is required for use on letters and flats prepared for automation pricing. In addition, it allows mailers to track individual mailpieces and provides greater visibility into the mailstream.
Commingling and Co-Palletization
Commingling helps reduce postage and delivery costs. This is a process where multiple companies combine and organize their mailings to send to targeted neighborhoods or zip codes to qualify for volume and other postal discounts. Commingled mail qualifies for discounts because it’s already sorted to its final destination. Co-palletization is the combination of trays of mail into pallets. The difference between commingling and co-palletization is that with commingling, you share space inside a tray and with co-palletization, you share space on a pallet, with both providing discount opportunities. You just need to determine the best option for you.
USPS Postage Promotions
Each year, the USPS offers a variety of postage promotions, which can provide large savings on your overall postage costs. Stay on top of USPS postal discounts and see if you qualify.
Examples of First-Class mail promotions include:
- Earned Value Reply Mail Promotion: If you register your Mailer ID and use eligible Intelligent Mail barcodes on your Business Reply Mail (BRM), Courtesy Reply Mail (CRM) and Share Mail pieces, you may receive a postage discount for each applicable mailpiece placed in the mailstream and scanned during the promotion period.
- Personalized Color Promotion Discount: Receive a discount for bills and statements featuring color messaging to help encourage the overall engagement and response rate of mailpieces. This promotion strives to increase the value of First-Class Mail and encourage color print technology, providing an upfront discount to mailers who use dynamic/variable color print.
Examples of Marketing Mail promotions include:
- Tactile, Sensory and Interactive Discounts: Use unique papers, finishes, and inks. These features boost engagement and response rates. A multi-faceted approach can lead to additional discounts. Using the latest tactile/sensory features reinforces your brand. It also gives customers an interactive experience.
- Mobile Shopping Promotion: The USPS offers discounts for mailers who link to online shopping. This is especially useful during the holidays. Use mobile-friendly technology, such as direct codes. This promotion connects mobile devices with the online shopping experience.
- Standard-Size Mailpieces: Consider the shape and size of your mailpiece when designing it. Postage rates vary greatly by size. An odd-shaped design will likely cost more. The USPS has specific minimum and maximum size requirements for envelopes and “flats.” Using the optimal size helps control costs and avoids extra charges.
- Paper Stock: Paper weight can also affect postage rates. The good news is that the maximum weight for automation letters and cards increased to 3.5 ounces. This gives you more flexibility with your paper choice. Get samples and weigh them to stay within limits. A lightweight alternative can help you keep costs down, especially for high-volume mailings.
- High-Volume Capabilities: Proper infrastructure supports high-volume printing and mailing. You can use technology and software to optimize operations. Having the right staff and equipment is essential. Building strong vendor relationships also helps maximize savings. These factors streamline the mailing process. They ensure your operations are efficient and reduce waste.
Return Mail and Move Update Compliance
What is Returned Mail?
Returned mail consists of mailpieces that are undeliverable as addressed. The mail is usually returned because of outdated, inaccurate, or insufficient address data.
Returned mail refers to mail items that are sent back to the sender instead of reaching their intended recipients. There are several reasons why mail may be returned:
- Insufficient or incorrect address: If an address is incomplete or wrong, the postal service can’t deliver it. The mail is then returned to the sender. This also happens if the address is outdated.
- Addressee not found: The mail may be returned if the person no longer lives at that address. It can also happen if the name isn’t recognized by the postal service.
- Non-deliverable or undeliverable mail: Some mail is simply undeliverable. This can be for several reasons. The recipient might refuse to accept it. The address may be vacant or the business is closed. Damaged or unprocessable mail is also returned.
- Failure to pay postage or insufficient postage: IIf a sender doesn’t pay the required postage, the mail may be returned. The same happens if the postage on the item isn’t enough.
- Return service requested: Senders can request return service. This means if the mail can’t be delivered, it’s automatically returned to them. This prevents the mail from being discarded or held by the postal service.
Returned mail provides important feedback. It tells the sender if an address is wrong or if there are other issues. Businesses and people should update their address lists often. This helps reduce returned mail and ensures successful delivery.
FSSI’s Electronic Return Mail Solution
At FSSI, we’ve prioritized staying updated and informed on all avenues related to data validation and address hygiene. We offer a solution to help reduce your undeliverable mail, inform you about your address data and reduce postage costs. Our solution is eReturn Mail.
eReturn is an electronic solution. It provides a digital file of all “Change of Address” (COA) and “Undeliverable as Addressed” (UAA) information. This includes details for physically returned mailpieces. The service covers all scenarios of returned mail. It also helps decrease the occurrence of “nixies,” or undeliverable mail.
- Using a proprietary program, FSSI matches USPS® data with its database, so there is no manual processing needed
- Through FSSI’s Unique Piece Tracking (UPT), we provide you with data on all mail that was returned. We do this in a convenient, easy-to-read electronic file, removing piles of physical mail to sort through
- Data is formatted so you can quickly and easily manage customer addresses and make real-time updates
- When database updates are not feasible without consent, you can quickly identify and contact customers to get updated information
- Satisfy Move Update compliance by streamlining the review process and address cleansing practices. This helps to keep your customer data up to date
- Secure Destruction enables you to instruct USPS to destroy all “Undeliverable as Addressed” mail and forward all “Change of Address” mail to your customers
Address Cleansing and the Importance of Data Quality
Accurate address data is the foundation of successful mailings. Learn about the benefits of address cleansing and how it can enhance the efficiency of your mailing campaigns. Discover the impact of diligent address management. See how it can help your mail sorting, postage costs, campaign ROI, and the overall effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
What is Address Cleansing?
Address cleansing, also known as address validation or standardization, is the process of correcting, updating, and formatting mailing addresses to ensure they are accurate and deliverable. It works by using specialized software that compares and matches addresses against a certified database, such as the USPS National Change of Address (NCOA) database. This process identifies common errors like misspellings, incorrect ZIP codes, and missing information, then standardizes the address to the correct postal format. The software can also flag addresses that are vacant, unverified, or have been changed, helping businesses improve the deliverability of their mail. This can also reduce costs from returned mail and maintain an up-to-date and accurate customer database.
How Can Address Cleansing Benefit My Business?
Address cleansing provides significant benefits for a business’s bottom line and operational efficiency. By correcting and standardizing addresses, it reduces postage costs associated with undeliverable mail. Each returned item represents wasted money on printing, postage, and handling. This process also improves the accuracy of customer data, which is vital for effective marketing campaigns and personalized communication.
When mail reaches its intended recipient, it enhances customer satisfaction and trust, strengthening relationships and improving response rates for direct mail campaigns. Furthermore, maintaining a clean database ensures compliance with postal regulations and helps a company avoid fees and penalties for high volumes of returned mail. Ultimately, a clean address list streamlines operations, saves money, and ensures your communications are reliably delivered.
The Importance of Data Accuracy
Data accuracy is critical, especially in the case of mailers, where inaccurate information means that your message will fail to reach the right person and cost you to do so. There are many reasons you may have incorrect or outdated addresses in your database. Your intended customers might have moved, made a mistake in providing their address initially, or given a format unrecognizable by your system. These simple inaccuracies lead to undeliverable mail and postage fees that could have been avoided with an address cleanse.
Even more critical than wasted marketing efforts are the implications for companies that deal with bills, invoices, letters and notices. These types of mailed content are often confidential and of high priority, making sure that they are not going to be returned or undeliverable is of the utmost importance with these sensitive and vital documents. Whether you do a manual or automatic audit of your database, in-house or with address cleansing services, the results will provide a measurable improvement for your business.
Keep Your Customer Address Database Updated and Reduce Returned Mail
Whether you choose a service or manual approach, there are tangible benefits available to those who choose to utilize address cleansing. Not only will you save time and money, but you will also keep your communications moving as planned to reap the benefits of recaptured business opportunities and an improved customer experience.
USPS Guide: Move Update Ensuring Compliance
What is Move Update Compliance?
The USPS changed how it verifies address quality. It launched Move Update to reduce forwarded mail. The program matches address records with USPS change-of-address requests.
The Move Update standard affects high-volume mailers. They must prove their mail is compliant. This helps them avoid extra fees. Conversely, businesses with accurate, up-to-date databases will keep their presort mail discounts.
The Move Update standard is met with a specific process. An address must be updated using an approved method. That same address must then be used in a commercial First-Class Mail or USPS Marketing Mail mailing. This must be done within 95 days of the address update.
Understanding Move Update Compliance
The goal of Move Update is to improve mail quality for the USPS. It also reduces undeliverable mail. Billions of mail pieces are Undeliverable as Addressed (UAA). This represents a huge portion of all mail processed.
UAA mail is also expensive. It costs mailers an average of $3.00 for each returned piece. For companies with large mailing lists, these fees can quickly add up. Smart marketers know that customers move and change their addresses often.
With stricter rules and higher fees, it’s a perfect time to prioritize address data accuracy. Consider partnering with a mail service provider. They can assess your current customer database and help you stay compliant. This will save you money and ensure your mail reaches its destination.
Partnering with an Outsource Print-Mail Provider
Working with a print-mail provider can maximize your mailing efforts. They have expertise in print-mail best practices. This gives you insights to optimize your communications. It also helps you plan the mailing process effectively.
This includes several key steps. You can strategically design documents for the right envelope size. You can also maximize savings through presort automation. The provider can use tools like address cleansing and mailpiece tracking.
FSSI is an expert in USPS services and postage optimization. We understand all the complexities involved. We can help you navigate tools like Certified Mail, Postage Optimization, and Return Mail Solutions. Our expertise also covers Address Cleansing and Move Update compliance.
By working with us, you can streamline your mailing campaigns. This reduces costs and improves efficiency. We’ll help you implement effective strategies from start to finish. Contact FSSI at 714.436.3300 for a consultation to ensure that you are getting the most out of your mail services. We’ll show you how you can benefit from FSSI’s workflow transparency and secure data practices.
Sources:
Pitney Bowes whitepaper – “Stemming the tide: Control the quantity and cost of returned mail.” https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm100/intro.htm
https://pe.usps.com/text/qsg300/q507.htm