Data has always played a vital role in mailing operations. Beyond its traditional function of providing personalized content, the role of data has expanded to include tracking.
In today's typical automated document factory (ADF) environment, individual mailpieces can be tracked through document creation, printing and finishing. Integrating these three steps connects the initial managing and sorting of data to the finishing process to allow for maximum postal discounts. Most of what happens in an ADF environment is designed to get a customized document into an envelope and get it out the door.
However, in the traditional ADF paradigm, the ability to track individual mailpieces ceases the moment the envelopes leave the building. For many high-volume transaction output operations, the ability to track the progress of individual mailpieces through the U.S. Postal Service system would be a reassuring and welcome development.
More than 30 different barcodes are currently in use throughout the postal system. With so many barcodes eating up valuable document and envelope real estate and hampering the efficiency of the Postal Service's 10,000-plus barcode sorters, USPS has proposed voluntary usage of a new four-state barcode that can encode three times as much information as the 11-digit Postnet code.
The four-state barcode is an international standard that utilizes long and short bars positioned above and below a horizontal line, in essence stacking both a PLANET barcode and mail.dat data to give each individual mailpiece its own unique ID. The "four-state" name is derived from the four vertical bar types utilized. Four-state barcodes will enable the USPS to optimize its Confirm service to better track individual First-Class and Standard mailpieces through the mail stream in near-real time. USPS officials refer to such tracking services as "intelligent mail."
In the Confirm application, scanning the mailpiece's barcode at the initial processing center triggers an entry into the system's database. When the barcode is scanned at subsequent processing centers and the receiving post office, the database tracks the progress of the mailpiece though the mailstream. USPS hopes such electronic tracking will help identify problems such as persistent delays between two sites or misdelivery of mail. Another proposed benefit of intelligent mail is the ability to monitor irregularities in mail delivery that could signify mail fraud.
HVTO organizations can subscribe to the Confirm service to verify mail drop dates of specific campaigns, estimate delivery dates, forecast incoming revenue based on return envelopes scanned and reduce the number and expense of follow-up mailings and phone calls. For instance, mailers who print four-state barcodes on their return envelopes would be able to access either the USPS's secure Mail Tracking & Reporting Web site or a similar site provided by one of the solution providers, type in a key code and check if a particular customer's return envelope had entered the mail stream before a second notice is sent. Thus, a customer's claim that their "check is in the mail" could easily be verified. USPS estimates that intelligent mail could save high-volume mailers, such as financial institutions, as much as $1 million a month.
The advent of four-state barcodes and intelligent mail breaks down the walls of the traditional ADF and expands tracking capabilities of an individual mailpiece to the recipient's local post office and back. In doing so, it expands the ADF paradigm to include the mail stream and the full lifecycle of return mail.
But what adjustments need to be made to allow an ADF to fully tap into these capabilities? The answer is not as intimidating or expensive as you may think.
As a general rule, most print manipulation and compositional software applications available will support four-state barcodes. The mailer may need to upgrade the software or simply reprogram it to reposition the mailpiece's unique code into the envelope's address window. ADFs already use unique identifiers on the borders of cut-sheet forms or on the pinfeed area of continuous forms that are subsequently trimmed off. Combining those unique identifiers into the four-state barcode and repositioning it to the window should suffice for most mailings.
As for hardware, it would be wise for ADFs to invest in a camera-based reading/scanning system if they don't already have one. Camera-based readers range from $20,000 to $40,000 and can assist in confirming the individualized barcode information on a mailpiece as well as performing many other integrity and quality checks.
Armed with the knowledge that individual return envelopes can now be tracked as well, mailing operations would be well-suited to reconfigure operations to include customizing return envelopes. This would require further integration of ADF processes to match up outgoing and return envelopes for individual customers. Many mailers also believe intelligent mail will allow them to presort mail to a finer degree more easily than with other technologies.
Under the tenet that "you can't manage what you can't measure," another benefit of the expanded tracking capabilities enabled by four-state barcodes is a better mechanism for capturing and analyzing data to improve efficiencies and help identify delays or defects in high-volume mail operations. Four-state barcodes and intelligent mail will facilitate more robust and modern statistical analysis methodologies and quality improvement techniques. For example, the expanded tracking capabilities can help supply the necessary data to drive process improvements utilizing the Six Sigma tool. Originally developed by a Motorola executive in 1986, Six Sigma is a data-driven approach to defining, measuring, analyzing and improving processes and eliminating errors. Six Sigma was originally applied only in manufacturing environments where the goal was to reduce defects to 3.4 per million items produced but is increasingly being applied to other processes. Such advanced analysis will drive better operational efficiencies and further process integration, wherein fewer staff will be needed to push through major mailings.
Four-state barcodes are already winning endorsements from some mailers for their efficiency. A USPS spokesperson claims that a survey of mailers found that the four-state code caused fewer transitional difficulties than other advanced coding technologies such as 2-D barcodes. To use an analogy many are familiar with, the expanded tracking capabilities enabled by four-state barcodes is like switching from analog to digital. In the digital world, everything can be measured and tracked, empowering the users with the ability to see more immediate results when changes are implemented. That implication may seem daunting to many, but for those who embrace new technology and expanded capabilities, the advent of four-state barcodes will be an illuminating and liberating experience that will help facilitate seamless mail acceptance.
Mark Van Gorp is Vice President of Business Development with BÖWE Bell + Howell. Additional information can be found at www.bowebellhowell.com.
