That's the number of mostly high-volume mailers who helped the U.S. Postal Service deliver one billion pieces of mail using Full Service Intelligent Mail. The milestone mailing entered the distribution network on Dec. 4, and the actual number was confirmed earlier this week.

Since the May implementation of Intelligent Mail Full Service, 109 commercial mailers have submitted more than 11,000 electronic postage statements.

"Intelligent Mail Full Service provides commercial mailers with visibility into the status of their mail so that they can provide better service to their customers,"❠said Tom Day, senior vice president, Intelligent Mail and Address Quality. "When their customers call, they will have the information to respond more quickly and accurately. Intelligent Mail tracking also will help finance departments monitor and predict payments more easily. And, in this economy, this is more crucial than ever."

Commercial customers also are experiencing the speed with which their postage statements are now being processed in the PostalOne! business mail management system. According to Day, the PostalOne! system is processing more than 90 percent of Full Service mailings in less than 10 minutes.

"We highly recommend that mailers take advantage of electronic processing of postage statements, even if they have not yet signed up for Full Service Intelligent Mail,"❠said Day. "It's fast, and mailers can more easily monitor their accounts and keep track of their mailings more efficiently than with paper postage statements."

Customers also are seeing the benefit of free Address Correction Service (ACS). More than 12 million Full Service ACS notices were provided to mailers since July.

Day credited the success of the Intelligent Mail program to the relationships the Postal Service has with its customers. He cited decisions to simplify a number of business mail acceptance processes as examples of the Postal Service responding to the needs of its customers.

For example, the Postal Service recently implemented the use of hand-held scanning for initial verifications of Full-Service mailings. The process is simple. When mailers bring in their Full Service mailings into a processing plant, postal personnel use the scanners to collect data about the quality and content of the barcodes on the mailpieces as well as on the trays, sacks, and containers. If the data collected by the scanners shows problems with the mailings, the mailer has the option of taking the mail back to rework it.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

For more information about Intelligent Mail Services, visit ribbs.usps.gov.