Electronic Delivery Confirmation from the U.S. Postal Service, offers convenience and savings to mailers using Priority Mail or Package Services. Electronic Delivery Confirmation saves mailers 0.38. to 0.40. per package and allows them to easily print package labels and track packages from desktop PCs, using any connection to the Internet. By using off-the-shelf mailing software for electronic Delivery Confirmation, mailers of all sizes can take advantage of this functionality without going through any software development or certification steps. With the additional integration of Internet postage and other Internet services, mailing software vendors provide a complete, cost-effective, integrated solution for label design, address cleaning, postage evidencing, postage accounting and Delivery Confirmation.
Two Types of Delivery Confirmation
Delivery Confirmation gives mailers the date and time of delivery, the ZIP Code and whether or not delivery was made, attempted, forwarded or returned for each package. Delivery Confirmation is available on Priority Mail and Package Services (formerly Standard Mail B: Parcel Post, Media Mail, Library Mail and Bound Printed Matter). It can also be used with Standard Mail parcels (formerly Standard Mail A) and Parcel Select for drop shipments. Delivery Confirmation comes in two options, retail and electronic. The retail option is generally purchased at the post office, while the electronic option is printed directly by the mailer.
Savings
Electronic Delivery Confirmation offers mailers substantial savings because it is free for Priority Mail and costs only 0.12. for Package Services. Compare this with the 0.40. charge for Retail Delivery Confirmation on Priority Mail and 0.50. for Package Services, the savings add up. As Figure 1 illustrates, electronic Delivery Confirmation produces savings for both small business mailers and professional fulfillment houses. A mailer sending one to 10 packages a day can save hundreds of dollars annually, and a mailer sending over 100 packages a day can save tens of thousands of dollars.
These savings combine with the attractive pricing of Priority Mail in the one- to five-pound package weight range, and the fact that the USPS does not charge any residential or Saturday delivery surcharges to give mailers a very cost-effective solution for expedited flats and packages.
Convenience
Electronic Delivery Confirmation eliminates filling out Delivery Confirmation forms, managing receipts, manually entering tracking numbers and trips to the post office. Retail Delivery Confirmation requires that mailers fill out Form 152 (the fluorescent green label) and affix the barcode from that form on every package sent. Mailers using the retail option generally retain the receipt portion of the form for every package they send. These are used to track the packages by calling the USPS or visiting its Web site and entering the tracking numbers from the receipts. Electronic Delivery Confirmation automates that process and prints the barcode with a unique tracking number directly on the mailing label. Furthermore, because the mailer's software drives the generation and printing of electronic Delivery Confirmation, the tracking numbers are maintained directly on the mailer's desktop PC. This allows mailers to obtain the status of packages by selecting the packages from log-files and getting an immediate response over the Internet (see figure 2). Instead of looking up a receipt and typing in a 20-digit tracking number every time a package is checked, the mailer simply clicks one button to obtain the status. If needed, the mailer can also print a receipt showing the original and destination address, the tracking number and the delivery status. The USPS keeps the package delivery status information available for 180 days.
Off-the-Shelf Mailing Software Solutions
Mailing software products make the electronic Delivery Confirmation option seamlessly available to mailers of all sizes. The USPS provides specifications (USPS Publication 91) and an interface that gives software developers access to the functionality. Software vendors use these tools to make the services available to mailers in easy-to-use mailing software applications.
The electronic option was originally designed for large mailers capable of transmitting electronic files of their shipments to the postal service and required an application and certification process. In this process, mailers were assigned blocks of Package Identification Codes (PIC or tracking numbers) based on the mailing site's DUNS number. Mailers used these numbers to print package labels and transmit daily files to the USPS containing the package information for each PIC number used. Alternatively, mailers could obtain USPS-assigned PIC numbers over the Internet. This approach eliminated the need to transfer files to the USPS because each package was logged into the USPS' database as it was generated. However, both approaches could only be used by experienced programmers, and they required development efforts on the part of the mailer. Furthermore, the mailer had to complete a printing certification in both of these approaches and maintain a 95% barcode readability to keep their certification.
Instead of developing their own systems to print electronic Delivery Confirmation labels, mailers are better served by off-the-shelf mailing software products that integrate this service. The software development and application/certification processes are unattractive to mailers and are only affordable to very large mailers. Even for large mailers, outsourcing the software development, maintenance and certification makes good business sense. By using a vendor's mailing software, the mailer avoids the application and certification processes as well as the software development effort. This way, mailers can focus on their core competencies and leverage the software vendor to amortize the development and maintenance costs among the vendor's client base. This results in a more focused, cost-effective and hassle-free solution to the mailer.
How It Works
Figure 3 illustrates the flow of data between the mailer, the software vendor and the USPS. The mailer installs the vendor's mailing software on its desktop computer, which communicates with the servers of the vendor and the USPS over the Internet. When the mailer prints a Priority Mail label with electronic Delivery Confirmation, the mailing software sends the package information to the USPS server. The USPS server enters the package information into its database and responds with a PIC number and Delivery Confirmation barcode. The mailing software integrates the Delivery Confirmation barcode into a correctly formatted mailing label customized to the mailer's specifications. The software also logs the package information, including · the PIC number, into the software's postage log. When the mailer requests a status update on a package, the mailing software sends the PIC number to the U.S. Postal Service server. The USPS server responds with the package status information, which the mailing software displays for the mailer (see figure 2). Upon request, the software can also print the package and status information to create a paper receipt.
Note that these Internet transactions are really quite fast even with modem connections. The information that is exchanged between the mailer's desktop computer and the vendor and USPS' servers is very small. The entire request or response sequence for each label takes only a few seconds even on a 56K modem. In most cases, these transactions take less time than the printer needs to print the label. And, high-speed printers can produce several hundred labels per hour when using electronic Delivery Confirmation.
Internet Postage and Services
Another advantage of using vendor-provided mailing software for electronic Delivery Confirmation is that this software can also take advantage of other Internet services during package processing (see figure 3). The Internet has had a growing role in mail center applications since 1996 because it provides two key advantages to the mailing industry, which are immediate accessibility and increased services to mailers. Mailing software helps integrate these services to provide greater functionality such as CASS-certified address verification, move updating (Fast-Forward) and Internet Postage.
By integrating Internet postage into the label generation process, the mailing software becomes a complete solution for the mailer. Since the mailer is already using the Internet to obtain PIC numbers and generate the package labels, Internet postage is a natural and smart fit for applying postage. This eliminates an additional step from the package preparation and mailing process. With Internet postage, the mailer does not need to use an expensive postage meter or cumbersome manifesting to take advantage of electronic Delivery Confirmation. The mailing software provides a single, cost-effective, integrated solution for the mailpiece design, postage evidencing and Delivery Confirmation.
Steve Rifai is the director of Marketing at Envelope Manager Software, which is a desktop mailing software provider of solutions for Internet postage, electronic Delivery Confirmation, presort mail and mailpiece design. For more information, please contact Envelope Manager Software at 800-576-3279 ext.140, www.envelopemanager.com or at www.endicia.com.
