Mailing Systems Technology - 08 AUG 2009

MailingAUGUST 2009www.MailingSystemsTechnology.comMailingMailing

systems technology

p Market Trends for Direct Mail in 2009page 30

p Will the USPS’s New Approach Work in this Climate?page 32

p Targeting Mail Center Effi ciency Gainspage 26

O C T O B E R 5 - 7 , 2 0 0 9HYATT REGENCY O’HARE • CHICAGO

www.mailingsystemstechnology.com/conference

page 24Strategic PurchasingStrategic PurchasingHow to Stay Competitive in a Challenging Economy

Several free networking receptions and luncheons where you can mingle with fellow mailing professionals.

Two free exhibit halls with solutions for mailing, shipping and document processing.

� ey’re Taking Over…Not to Fear…

ATTENTION: Mailing Systems Technology subscrib-ers: Get an additional 20% off with your VIP invitation. Just go to the www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com to get yours. You’ll be able to justify this very affordable conference. Free exhibit hall passes also available. Check it out.

We’ve Got You Covered

More Value... October 6-7, Mailing Conference, Chicago

www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com/conference or call toll free 866.378.4991

3 The Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMb) is com-ing, whether you like it or not. So we have developed an intensive four-hour workshop that will give you all the knowledge you need to make solid business decisions.

3 The mail center used to be a place of hardware. But now, software is king. Are you getting the most out of it? This is the only workshop in the mailing industry that will cover everything soft-ware — from production to management to USPS compliance.

3 Finding it impossible to get approval for purchasestoday? We end the workshops with a session on ROI and making the customer-vender rela-tionship work for you.

SOFTWARESOFTWARE IMbIMb IMbIMb

One or two-day mailing workshop passes available. You can also use your pass to attend PARCEL or DOCUMENT Forum sessions.

More Value...

SOFTWARE SOFTWAREIMbIMb

Several free networking receptions and luncheons where you can mingle with fellow mailing professionals.

Two free exhibit halls with solutions for mailing, shipping and document processing.

Not to Fear…

ATTENTION: Mailing Systems Technology subscrib-ers: Get an additional 20% off with your VIP invitation. Just go to the www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com to get yours. You’ll be able to justify this very affordable conference. Free exhibit hall passes also available. Check it out.

We’ve Got You Covered

More Value...

3 The Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMb) is com-ing, whether you like it or not. So we have developed an intensive four-hour workshop that will give you all the knowledge you need to make solid business decisions.

3 The mail center used to be a place of hardware. But now, software is king. Are you getting the most out of it? This is the only workshop in the mailing industry that will cover everything soft-ware — from production to management to USPS compliance.

3 Finding it impossible to get approval for purchasestoday? We end the workshops with a session on ROI and making the customer-vender rela-tionship work for you.

SOFTWARESOFTWARE IMbIMb

One or two-day mailing workshop passes available. You can also use your pass to attend PARCEL or DOCUMENT Forum sessions.

� ey’re Taking Over…More Value... October 6-7, Mailing Conference, Chicago

www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com/conference or call toll free 866.378.4991

SOFTWARE SOFTWAREIMbIMb IMbIMb

Mailingsystems technology

Volume 22 Issue 4

24 Strategic Purchasing Financing options help mail centers stay competitive in

a challenging economy

26 Targeting Mail Center Efficiency Gains These low-cost practices can bring significant improvements

28 Making the Right Moves A comprehensive approach to the challenge of undeliverable as addressed mail

30 A Channel in Transformation Vertical market trends in direct mail 2009

32 Bernstock Seeks Innovative Approach to USPS Marketing Will it work in this climate?

AUGUST 2009

Make sure you sign up for our monthly e-Newsletter so we can keep you posted with news alerts and updates!

www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com[PLUS]

24

28

30

32

04 AUGUST 2009 a www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com

Departments

8 Real Life Management

10 Software Byte

12 Employing Technology

14 Everything IMB

16 Ship It

18 Best Practices

20 What You Think

22 From the Source

34 New Products

Columns

6 Editor’s Note Game Over?

35 Reality Check Does the USPS Understand Our Business?

30 Pushing the Envelope Postal Industry Suppliers Spur Innovation

Top Companies

38 BÖWE BELL + HOWELL

39 Collins Ink

40 DHL Global Mail

41 Endicia

42 Hasler

43 Kern

44 Kirk Rudy

45 Melissa Data

46 Mid-South Technologies

47 National Presort, Inc. (NPI)

48 Neopost

49 Parascript

50 Satori Software



At a recent gathering of our neighborhood condo group, I asked a neighbor if they subscribed to the New York Times, as I would like to read it when they were fi nished. (I’m a little on the cheap side.) He responded that he didn’t get the actual Times but subscribed online — adding that the online version was free. My response — and the response from the majority gathered — was that they didn’t want their newspapers online; they wanted to “kick back” and read an actual printed product.

As the discussion continued it expanded into print in general and specifi cally e-mar-keting (referred to in this discussion as spam). Pretty much everyone agreed that they considered most all e-marketing as intrusive and a general pain. They would much rather get marketing pieces in print, either as newspaper ads or as direct marketing pieces. They didn’t have a problem with businesses maintaining the relationship via “e,” but for the initial contact, they preferred print. One mentioned that they were surprised how things had changed — adding, “only spam (e-marketing) could make direct mail popular.” All in all, a very enlightening and interesting discussion. The bottom line: Print advertising is still a very attractive option, and probably the most attractive from a recipi-ent’s point of view.

Unfortunately, the story didn’t end there. At this same gathering was an executive of a major retail clothing fi rm with a nationwide in-store and online sales and distribution function. He stated that they still used some direct mail marketing but they recently had to abandon their mass distribution of catalogs due to postage costs. (We’re talking many millions of pieces here.) The latest rounds of regulation changes and postage rate increases for catalogs were just too much — they simply couldn’t justify the expense vs. sales. His comments really hit home to me. Here was a real-life example of a major mailer saying “no more.”

First Class Mail revenue is in real trouble. With transactional mail going away (bills and statements are products that do fi t with “e” very well), the revenue “cash cow” of the U.S. Postal Service will no longer carry the load. It will fall to direct marketing and parcel products to do the job. Obviously, raising rates to collect more revenue will not work. Adding cataloger costs by adding more regulations will not work. It is up to the USPS — the entire USPS, labor as well as management — to fi nd ways to cut costs.

I wish I could say, “Not to worry, everything’s going to be fi ne,” but I can’t. The key to keeping print advertising viable is going to be cost containment. If the cost of direct marketing keeps rising, it will not matter what the recipient prefers, marketers will simply not be able to afford print marketing. Without innovative and signifi cant cost cuts, it’s “game over” for the USPS as we know it!

As always, thanks for reading Mailing Systems Technology.

PUBLISHERRon Brent

EDITORDan O’Rourke, CMM

[email protected]

MANAGING EDITORAmanda Cook Armendariz

[email protected]

CONTRIBUTING WRITERSMary Ann Bennett, Kemal Carr

Kevin Conti, Wes Friesen, Jim Gray Steve Kearney, Nick Kepf, Christopher Lien

Jason Lund, Jonathan MarguliesKate Muth, Paul Ringuette

David Robinson, Wanda SenneJeff Stangle, Mark Taylor

CIRCULATION Rachel Spahr

[email protected]

ADVERTISING608-442-5064Ken Waddell

[email protected]

GRAPHIC DESIGNAmy Pierquet

Greg Middleton, Kelli Cooke

2901 International LaneMadison WI 53704-3128

608-241-8777 • Fax [email protected]

www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com

Volume 22, Issue 4

Subscriptions are free to qualifi ed recipients: $20 per year to all others in the United States. Subscription rate for Canada or Mexico is $40 per year, and for elsewhere outside of the United States is $45. Back issue rate is $5. Send sub-scriptions to: Mailing Systems Technology, PO Box 259098, Madison WI 53725-9098; or call 608-241-8777; fax 608-241-8666; e-mail [email protected] or subscribe online at www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com.

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Game Over?

with Dan O’Rourkeeditor’s note


Best Practices of Great Managers

Real Life Management With Wes Friesen

How do organizations succeed at attracting and retaining the talent they need to prosper? Studies tell us that talented employees want and need great managers. How long employees stay and

how productive they are is primarily determined by the relationship with their immediate supervisor. The number-one reason why talented people leave is because they had a poor relationship with their boss.

Editor’s Note: This is part one of a two-part series on the four best practices of general managers. We will cover two in this article and two in the next.

Trying to improve our management capabilities is important to the success of our organizations. Many people in the human resources field are telling us that the number-one challenge facing organizations in the years ahead is the ability to attract and retain talented employees. This is becoming more challenging due to the aging demographics facing our nation. So how do we become better managers? One tool we have is to learn and apply what research tells us. The Gallup organization has been engaged in employee and management research for over 25

“C” stands for Character. Does character count? As an employee of a company that has been owned by Enron, I would say an emphatic “yes!” Look for people that exhibit integrity and honesty.

“E” stands for enthusiasm. Is apathy and cynicism contagious? Yes! Is enthusiasm contagious? Yes! What makes for stronger and more productive teams? The answer is obvious. Here is the bot-tom line: If you hire ACEs for your team (and help existing employ-ees develop into ACEs) — your team will be successful!

Set Expectations: Define the Right OutcomesThe second key is to set expectations, which is to define the right outcomes. Great managers focus their people toward per-formance by defining the right outcomes. How do you define the right outcomes? The 360-degree approach is one wise strategy. Find out where your boss and the senior management want the organization to go, then determine how your team can help them get there. Coordinate with your peers, and find ways to partner. Solicit participation from your team members — their participation leads to their buy-in and higher quality decisions. Once the right outcomes are defined, great managers then let each person find his own route toward the outcomes, within specified parameters. Great managers don’t micro-manage, but they do define steps to ensure quality, safety and compliance with corporate policies and applicable laws.

Great managers are aware of the concept of “stakeholder sym-metry.” Stakeholder symmetry recognizes that an organization has multiple stakeholders (e.g. investors, customers, employees, suppliers, community). The organization should try to add value to each stakeholder and maintain a reasonable balance between their competing interests.

None of us are perfect managers, but we can all get better! Good luck as you continue on your path to being a better manager! a

Wes Friesen, CMDSM, EMCM, MQC, ICP, CCM,CMA, CM, CFM, APP, PHR is the Manager of Revenue Collection & Community Of-fices for Portland General Electric. Contact [email protected].

How Do They Do It?

years and has collected information from over one million employ-ees and interviewed thousands of managers. Their studies have revealed to us what the world’s top performing managers do — and it boils down to four major activities (best practices).

Picking People: Select for TalentThe first key activity involves picking people well, focusing on their talents. Talent has been defined as the “recurring pattern of thought, feeling or behavior that can be productively applied.” Skills can be learned, knowledge can be gained, but talent is more “hardwired” and tougher to teach.

One approach in looking for talented people for our teams is to only hire “ACEs.” ACE is an acrostic where the “A” stands for Atti-tude. Look for people who have a positive attitude and who are committed, teachable and care for people.

two important considerations of great managers are: Picking People: Select for Talent

Setting Expectations: Define the Right Outcomes

Studies Show: According to the research,


The Best Defense Is a Good Offense

Software Byte With Christopher Lien

There is much at stake today in address quality. Postage dis-counts, timely delivery and customer response are all directly tied to the upfront investment in address quality. Unfortunately, so much emphasis has been placed on the penalties of poor address quality that the overall benefits of keeping an address complete, correct and current are getting lost.

The USPS raised the bar November 23, 2008, when they expanded the Move Update requirement to First-Class and Standard Mail and increased the frequency by which an approved method is applied to at least 95 days prior to the mailing. This was done as a direct move to reduce Undeliverable As Addressed (UAA) mail both in cost and volume. According to the USPS, non-current addresses generate over 75% of the UAA volume and nearly 80% of the UAA costs involved in forwarding, returning and disposing of UAA mail.

Real Life ApplicationFor example, let us assume a mailing of 1,000,000 pieces is presented at a PBV-enabled site. The acceptance clerk takes a sample size of 1,000 pieces and processes it through MERLIN. The names and addresses are “lifted” from the pieces using the optical character recognition technology within MERLIN and are transmitted to the USPS National Cus-tomer Support Center (NCSC) in Memphis, TN where they are matched against the 48-month NCOALink database. The NCSC finds that there are 100 records that have a change-of-address on file. Furthermore, the NCSC determines that the mailer corrected 69 of them within the past 95 days. This results in a Move Update accuracy calculation of 69%, which would result in failure of Move Update compliance, as it is below the 70% tolerance level currently proposed by the USPS.

Regardless of the adjudication method, penalty amount or how it’s assessed, keeping addresses complete, correct and current is still a smart investment. Unfortunately, that is the message that is often lost in the whole Move Update compliance approach. The simple fact is that a current address is going to likely have a better chance of timely, predictable and ultimate delivery, which, in turn, improves customer response rates, direct marketing and value of the mail.

Going back to our scenario, had the mailer been 90% Move Update compliant, then an estimated 21,000 more pieces (.21 X .10 (COA rate) X 1M pieces) would ultimately arrive at their intended audi-ence. If our average response rate for this direct mailpiece is two percent, then that equates to 420 new customers. Depending on the typical purchase amount from these new customers, the incremental value of correcting these addresses could pay for the entire investment of Move Update compliance for the mailing. a

Christopher Lien is the President of BCC Software, Inc., a BÖWE BELL + HOWELL Company. He can be reached at [email protected].

www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com a AUGUST 2009 11

Real Value

Failure to comply with Move Update can result in significant pen-alties, loss of postage discounts and impact timely delivery of the mail. The proposed approach by the USPS is to use MERLIN in conjunction with the Performance Based Verification (PBV) tech-nology at the time of mail acceptance. This approach extrapolates address quality of the entire mailing based on the sample used during verification. This is being delayed until January 4, 2010 in order for the USPS to determine appropriate tolerance levels, pen-alties and adjudication for Move Update compliance.

At the April MTAC (Mailers Technical Advisory Committee) meet-ing, the USPS presented two approaches for assessing Move Update penalties should the sample set fall below a specific tol-erance. One approach extrapolated the change-of-address (COA) rate within the sample to the entire mailing and used that as the basis for a penalty calculation. The other approach gave partial credit to the mailer by factoring in the number of address correc-tions done prior to the mailing.

The first proposed scenario for calculating a penalty would be to assess the COA rate against the entire mailing. This would equate to 100,000 pieces (10% COA X 1M pieces) having some penalty assessed. The second proposed approach, which provides partial credit to the mailer, factors in the address corrections applied prior to the mailing. This would equate to the failure rate of 31% mul-tiplied by the COA rate of 10% and then extrapolating the result across the entire mailing of one million pieces (.69 X .10 X 1M pieces). This would result in 31,000 pieces having some penalty assessed.

Move Update compliance isn’t just about preserving the postage discounts or avoid-ing penalties at acceptance; it’s about improving the value of the mail. A mailpiece that has a complete, correct and current address can translate into a greater return on invest-ment and effectively increase the overall response rate due to a timely, predictable and ultimate delivery.


The Content Factor

Employing Technology With Kemal Carr

It’s no surprise that today we are awash in content and information like never before. Email, SMS, Internet, blogs, EDI, legacy administrative systems, marketing content, direct mail, images, graphics and video. How do we store and manage all of this con-tent, and how does it impact our daily operations? Not much? Think again; if the future of TransPromo holds any promise, it will be one of rich media content delivered via our organizations’ operational processes.

The convergence of full color, graphic-rich direct mail with traditional transactional customer communications has gen-erated a lot of buzz in the market. The latest full color inkjet presses provide a platform to exploit this opportunity that wasn’t available five years ago. These platforms have some unique requirement in order to fully exploit their capability and maximize their return on the substantial investment. In most cases, it’s fallacy to buy into the concept of simply swapping out monochrome laser technology for these inkjet devices. If you’re planning on a “forklift upgrade,” prepare to be disappointed. Quickly.

The good news is that the software side of the equation has kept pace with and, in some cases, outstripped the hard-ware advances in this environment. Full color images, rich text, graphics and charts are no longer a challenge and can be rendered and printed in full color at production speeds.

But where does all of that content reside? Who is the legal guardian of it? Is it in a suitable format for this process? All good questions, and, unfortunately, there are many varied answers. Some of the content might be on a web content server, some information might be on the mainframe host, while other content might be imported from outside the organization, such as market indexes or fund prices in the financial services world.

Unfortunately, some pundits continue to confuse the market by incorrectly labeling variable data direct mail as TransPromo, which has slowed adoption and fueled the mys-tification. The reality is that this process rides on the back of some transactional document, not a marketing piece, and for good reason. Transactional mail gets opened, and more importantly, as much as 95% of it gets read. Without this key component, you’re fooling yourself while sending out something most of us would call direct mail.

Only an independent and objective third party with the tech-nology, industry and market knowledge, as well as practical expertise gained from overseeing myriad solution selection processes, can provide the thought clarity and accurate infor-mation necessary to make the best decision. a

Kemal Carr is the President of Madison Advisors, an advisory firm that specializes in print and electronic communications. Visit www.madison-advisors.com.

Here the challenge lies in the ownership, or lack thereof, of the content. Finding the stewards of the core transac-tional data is relatively simple sometimes. The location of the data and how it’s handled is well-known, as it’s been a well-defined process developed over a number of years. The bad news is that all of the other content may not be present in a single location on a consoli-dated platform with an easily accessible user interface.

You’re storing content in many systems, one used by marketing, a different one used by the lines of business, and you’re trying to pull in customer input data from the call centers, using some text analytics to determine key trends. Sounds daunting, and it is, which is why there is only a handful of referenceable accounts doing this well. Finding resources and partners that have experi-ence in this type of situation is challenging, given the newness of these processes.

Everyone wants to make good decisions, and to do so requires good information. Without complete and accu-rate information, the decision process fails and we com-promise the potential outcomes. As TransPromo interest has increased, we at Madison Advisors have seen both the good and bad, as well as what improves the chances for success and what to avoid.

An Obvious Answer?Can You Identify The Problem?


An Update on the IMBC

Everything IMB With Kevin Conti & David Robinson

Reminder: The overall IMBC program is massive in scale, and most of us anticipated that there

would be issues at the initial launch. Once the IMBC date was established by the Postal Service,

we’ve all been under pressure to comply. Even the Postal Service, as well as its contractors hired to

code PostalOne!, are working insane hours to meet the requirements.

The Postal Service launched the full-service Intelligent Mail bar-code as expected on May 18. However, not all things went as planned. For example, full-service ACS was not available (still isn’t as this article is being written). There are other technical issues outstanding as well, and PostalOne! has had its challenges keep-ing up with the demand from those early adopters that have invested in being ready for full-service IMBC.

So why doesn’t the Postal Service step back and come up with a slower adoption curve so that all parties can better manage this

machines, but this process is certainly costlier and less reliable than the IMBC process of validating those specific pieces that are kicked out of the automation path.

Yet another benefit of the IMBC to the USPS is the cost savings of processing mail. The savings start at the beginning, where today, the USPS employs folks to manually enter postage statements into the system, which is very costly. With the IMBC, and espe-cially with full-service, the e-documentation requirements elimi-nate the need for this manual typing.

program? I’m glad you asked! Actually, I’ll speculate, which is all we can do, since they haven’t stated so directly.

Let’s begin with what the IMBC means to the Postal Service. First, you have the Service Performance Measurements that, under the new postal law (PAEA) established in late 2006, require the USPS to report on their service performance. The IMBC is the tool that allows the USPS total visibility of the mail in the mail-stream. There are arguments that they can use a hybrid system of “planted mail” and the IMBC, but the best data can really only come from use of the IMBC.

Another benefit the IMBC has for the USPS is that it will act like its own report card on address quality for letters and flats. Today, poorly addressed mail becomes part of the USPS’ Undeliver-able As Addressed (UAA) costs, which are paid for out of a gen-eral operating cost of the USPS and not specifically by mailers (although we all pay for this in postage rates). However, with the IMBC, the USPS will be able to determine the source of each piece of UAA mail. You may remember from previous articles that the Mailer ID that is contained in every IMBC will tell the USPS where that UAA mail came from.

If a mailer claimed postage discounts but the mail had to be manu-ally treated, the USPS will likely want to talk with that mailer, and one would guess that it’s a conversation that nobody wants to have.

It’s certainly true that there’s a means of the USPS checking for address quality (i.e., Move Update compliance) by using MERLIN

To begin with and as noted above, the Postal Service views the IMBC as a critical tool in meeting the Service Performance mea-surement requirements of the PAEA as well as a critical tool in reducing costs. Not much of a chance that the USPS will extend the POSTNET life.

In addition, given that the USPS will have the IMBC and today has the newly upgraded MERLIN system for validating Move Update compliance, we certainly encourage mailers to ensure that they are being very diligent in meeting the requirements of the Move Update compliance as well as good address hygiene in general.

The USPS has gotten very serious about this, and some mailers are being visited by the postal inspectors verifying that Move Update compliance is taking place as claimed. It will be far better for all if mailers develop best practices in their address hygiene. In the event of a visit by the postal inspectors, mailers should be able to produce documentation outlining their workflow processes on compliance, and this could go a long way in preventing fees/penal-ties. To be clear, there are no guarantees, but a solid process, at least, would be valuable if only to feel confident that mailers are earning the best discounts and ensuring mail deliverability. a

David Robinson has been active in the mailing industry for over eight years and is currently the Director of Address Quality for Pitney Bowes. Kevin Conti is Director of Mailing Solutions at Pit-ney Bowes Software. He works in a consultative role with Group 1 Software customers to deploy software solutions that reduce mailing costs and improve customer communications.

www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com a JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2009 25


Put Items on a Diet!

Ship It With Mark Taylor

When you are a beginner, you make mistakes. Sometimes, even an old pro makes one. In mail operations, a little mistake can be costly. Thirty years ago, I advised mail center managers to educate their users about how much money could be saved if they simply printed on both sides of a sheet of paper. Postage was $.15, and you could save 46%, or $.13, by cutting one ounce. Today, many people don’t realize that one ounce could cost an additional $16! The best advice for cutting shipping and mailing costs is this: chal-lenge your assumptions. This issue’s column will do that.

Now that summer is here, many of us are thinking about diets to look good. If we put our envelopes and packages on a diet, we can look good by the amount of money we will save. Make sure you weigh your packages and especially overnight envelopes; see if you can reduce the weight. One ounce can make a huge difference.

What Difference Does It Make?

• The difference between a FedEx eight-ounce Priority Overnight envelope and a nine-ounce envelope is $16.44 — 60% more. ($44.39 compared to $27.98)

• One ounce can be as much as 75% more! The difference between one pound and 1.1 pounds is $4.95, compared to $8.70

(USPS Zone 8)

Be Careful which Packaging You Choose

Shipper Beware:

don’t have to worry about fuel surcharges, residential delivery charges or delivery area surcharges; however, don‘t assume it is always the best deal.• I put 13 pounds into the USPS Medium Flat Rate Box; the

charge was $10.35. I compared this against UPS Ground and found that UPS was $12.78 for a Zone 8 commercial ship-ment and $14.89 for a residential shipment, for a savings of 20-30%.

• Yet UPS was cheaper for Zones 2-6 for a commercial ship-ment and through Zone 4 for a residential destination.

Most of these are lessons that I have learned the hard way. What are some of the lessons you have learned? I would like to hear your ideas and advice on saving on shipping. a

Mark Taylor, MBA, DLP, is the nation’s leading authority on parcel shipping with 32 years of experience consulting for thousands of organizations. He is a writer, speaker, business consultant and entrepreneur. Taylor has been featured as the industry expert in the New York Times and has been interviewed on ABC News. He spent 13 years at Pitney Bowes working with mail center manag-ers on increasing productivity. The American Society of Transpor-tation and Logistics has named Taylor a Distinguished Logistics Professional (DLP) in recognition of the contributions he has made to the field of logistics during his 30-year career. His blog is www.shippingcoach.com and he can be reached via email at [email protected].

I ran out of the hard cardboard FedEx envelopes and put a proposal into one of their Tyvek envelopes. The cost was $44.39 compared to $27.98, or 60% for the same thing going to the same place!

The USPS Express Mail Flat Rate Envelope looks very similar to the regular Express Mail Envelope. The difference to ship to a Zone 2 was $17.50 for the flat rate, compared to $13.05 for the regular envelope, or 30% more!

Compare Different Services, Even with the Same Carrier.• An eight-ounce USPS First Class Mail Parcel costs only $2.41

to ship, compared to the Priority Mail rate of $4.95 — a 50% savings.

• A one-pound box from New York to California using the USPS Media Mail rate is $2.38, compared to $4.95 using Priority Mail — a savings of 52%.

• A 20-pound box shipped UPS 3-Day Select costs $27.20, compared to UPS Ground for $11.93. Both parcels are guar-anteed to get there the same day and time. The savings is 56%.

Compare Flat-Rate Envelopes and Boxes. The USPS has a Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope and four sizes of flat rate boxes. Like the name implies, the cost is a fixed rate, regardless of its weight or destination. Flat rate can be a good deal because you

MST Ads.indd 17 8/13/09 10:11 AM

Using Ancillary Service Endorsements & Move Update Compliance

Best Practices With Mary Ann Bennett

Let me start out by saying: CAUTION CAUTION CAUTION. Apply-ing an Ancillary Service Endorsement like RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED or ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED to the face of your mailpiece may seem like an easy way to make your mailing Move Update-compliant. But it may also be the easy way for you to experience increased postage costs and expose your company to what the USPS calls “Revenue Deficiency Assessments” and the rest of the industry refers to as postage penalties.

Murky Areas of Move UpdateThere are many in the mailing industry who believe all areas involv-ing the entire issue of Move Update are murky at best. But, in my opinion, the use of Ancillary Endorsements is most problematic because of its apparent simplicity. Mailers commonly believe that if they print the endorsement on the mailpiece and pay the associ-ated fees, if any are incurred, that they have met the Move Update standard.

The use of endorsements is an approved method; however, it is likely the most expensive, cumbersome and, potentially, risky choice you can make. It is:• expensive because of the postage fees associated with their

application• cumbersome because of the multiple steps involved in the

process and • risky because the improper use of Ancillary Endorsements

could still leave you Non-Compliant.

Frequently MisunderstoodSimply printing one of the Ancillary Service Endorsements on your mailpiece and paying the fees does not meet the Move Update standard. There are many more steps you must complete before you can be sure your mail is meeting the standard and your com-pany is safe from the possible financial penalties of non-compliance.

Ancillary Service Endorsement Mailers may use an ancillary service endorsement to

1. request a hard-copy notification of the addressee’s new address; and

2. tell the Postal Service how to handle UAA mail.

Mailers wishing to meet the Move Update standard while using an ancillary service endorsement must send at least one letter or mailpiece to the address: 1. with an approved ancillary service endorsement at either

a single-piece First-Class Mail price or via another class of mail not subject to the Move Update standard and

2. within 95 days prior to the use of the address in a discounted First-Class Mail or Standard Mail mailing.

Mailers must keep address-correction records for up to one year in case the Postal Service asks them for documentation showing that they met the Move Update standard.

• To complete the Move Update process, mailers who used the ancillary service endorsement must make the address changes before mailing to the address again.

Ancillary service endorsement requirements differ for First-Class Mail and Standard Mail, as follows:

First-Class Mail • Return Service Requested • Temp-Return Service Requested (First-Class Mail only)• Change Service Requested • Address Service Requested

Standard Mail • Return Service Requested. • Change Service Requested. • Address Service Requested

*See Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) 507.1.5 for more information.

Effective November 2008, the Postal Service required all addresses on mailings that receive discounts for First-Class Mail® or Standard Mail® service, whether presorted or automation (or carrier route, for Standard Mail), to undergo address correction within 95 days of the mailing.


Straight from the Source:

According to USPS Publication 363, http://

ribbs.usps.gov/move_update/documents/

tech_guides/PUB363.pdf

MST • BestPracticesRevised.indd 18 8/12/09 10:44 PM


A mailer wishing to enter mail at a discounted price must cer-tify, on the postage statement submitted, that the address on each mailpiece have been updated within the previous 95 days.

Primary Move Update Methods: 1. Ancillary Service Endorsement 2. OneCode ACS®/ACSTM

3. NCOALink®4. FASTforward®

Alternative Move Update Methods: 1. Legal Restraint

the services has become very attractive in the past 12 months. It is:• a fast and efficient electronic process; • can be readily implemented by your company or service pro-

vider and • its proper use will easily render your company Move Update

compliant. a

Mary Ann Bennett is the President and CEO of The Bennett Group, Inc., and founder of the Mailing Training Institute. The Bennett Group, Inc. is the nation’s only privately held firm that specializes in the development, production and presentation of educational products and services for the direct mail industry.

Products developed at the facility include educational courses, textbooks, publications, kits and templates, online forums and web-based seminars. The Bennett Group also presents edu-cational courses and sessions at national and regional confer-ences, conventions, meetings of the direct mailing industry and Clemson University at Clemson, SC. 2. 99 Percent Accurate

Note: Alternative Move Update methods apply to First-Class Mail only.

Try and think of using Ancillary Service Endorsements to meet Move Update standards like drawing a circle with a marker.

Start drawing your circle:• Apply a “current” address with an Endorsement printed on

the mailpiece• Pay fees associated with any returned mail coming back to

you with updated information on it• Locate the record in your database with old address infor-

mation• Update the record with new address information

Close your circle by:• Document your process and keep address-correction infor-

mation on file for 12 months• Note: Do not include old addresses in any discounted mail-

ings until they have been updated and made “current”

A much simpler and, arguably, less expensive approach to Move Update compliance is using NCOALink processing. NCOALink is readily available to all companies large and small. The pricing for

A much simpler and, arguably,

less expensive approach to Move

Update compliance is using

NCOALink processing. NCOALink is

readily available to all companies

large and small. The pricing for the

services has become very attrac-

tive in the past 12 months.

Remember: The Postal Service offers mailers four primary and two alterna-tive Move Update methods.

Real-Life Solution:

MST • BestPracticesRevised.indd 19 8/12/09 10:42 PM

Digitizing Your Mail

What You Think With Jacquelyn McPeak, CMDSM

Thank you to the almost 300 respondents who provided results to the two-minute survey distributed in June concerning digitized mail applications.

Other applications identified are package receipt and e-mail notifi-cation to receiver, incoming claims mail, data files, overnight and ground shipments.

Of those managers who are currently using a digitized incoming mail solution, 68% of the managers are satisfied with the solution they selected compared to 32% who are not.The reasons for being satisfied or unsatisfied were varied and some examples follow:

Respondents indicatedthat for the majority, the current economy has not impacted their decision to use a digitized incoming mail solution.

Satisfied Reasons“Totally fits our mail processing needs at this time.”“Our solution was selected by claims executives, and it is out-sourced and works very well.”“Presents a cost savings to our company and our clients.”

Unsatisfied Reasons“Substandard scanner, limited software application.”“It is difficult to interface with our database and has operational software limitations.”“Too expensive and takes too long to get mail.”

Sixty-five percent of the respondents currently using a digitized incoming mail solution use an in-house scanning solution, whereas 16% use a scanning service bureau.

More than half of the managers using the digitized mail solution have experienced increased efficiency and 46% have experienced reduction of costs. Thirty-six percent experienced improved secu-rity, and 18% indicated other efficiencies, which included a new revenue stream, pandemic preparedness, cost and flexibility.

Those thinking about using a digitized incoming mail solution would consider the following: reduction of costs, increased effi-ciency and improved security.

Eighty-one percent of the managers not using a digitized incoming mail solution do not plan to use one in the near future, compared to 19% that plan to use digitized incoming mail solution in the future.

Looking forward to your participation in the next two-minute survey! a Jacquelyn McPeak is one of a distinguished number of mail profes-sionals that has obtained certification as a Mail and Distribution Sys-tems Manager. Contact her at [email protected] or 410-833-3224.

The majority of the respondents to the survey (67%) either work in or is responsible for the mail facility in a busi-ness, while 33% provide mail services such as presort, lettershop and data for other organizations. This represents almost the same ratio of managers in mail facility busi-ness and managers of mail services as the previous survey respondents.

The survey results reflect that only 15% of the respon-dents are currently using a digitized incoming mail solution in their operation as opposed to 85% who are not. The top three applications are:

44% Transactional business mail32% All incoming correspondence “white” mail24% Interoffice mail


39% YES

61% NO

www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com a JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2009 25

What a way to officially kick off the lazy, hazy, mail-filled days of the season! We learned last month that even the Postal Regulatory Commission agrees that our planned “Summer Sale” program is a terrific idea, unanimously endorsing our decision to provide a 30% rebate to eligible mailers on Standard Mail letters and flats volumes above a mailer-specific threshold.

As you know, the program is open to larger mailers able to meet a volume of at least one million Standard Mail letters and flats between October 1, 2007 and March 31, 2008. These thresh-olds are designed to limit administrative costs while incenting increased volume sufficient to cover those costs and make use of excess capacity in the mail system.

Mailers will receive their discounts in the form of rebates follow-ing the conclusion of the sale period. Within 15 days after crediting


Send-off into Summer!

From the Source By Steve Kearney

the rebates, the Postal Service is required to provide the Commis-sion with relevant revenue and cost data.

There has been a lot of discussion and interest in the mailing industry for this proposal, and we appreciate your support. Almost 200 mailers signed up within the first few weeks we announced the program, all agreeing to their threshold number, while continu-ing to wait for PRC review and action. Mailers have until August 1 to register to take advantage of the savings.

Although mail service providers are not eligible for the Sale, cus-tomers who use Mail Service Providers may qualify with adequate documentation of mailed volumes.

We will closely monitor the program and analyze the results, not only in volume increase but interest and participation from our

mapping the document life cycle

Subscribe online now: www.DOCUMENTmedia.com/subscribe

mapping the new document life cycle.VIEW IT ANYWHERE: digital magazine, e-newsletter, website INFORMATION ORGANIZED into easy-to-follow sectionsNEWS AND PRODUCT RELEASES: never fall behindLEARN ABOUT EVERYTHING micrositesA GROWING MULTIMEDIA: this is only a sampling; more is soon to come!


You’re Complying!

partners in the mailing industry. I strongly encourage you to take advantage of this program and use the savings to consider target-ing new customers or reaching out to thank existing customers for their business in tough economic times.

These are extraordinarily difficult times for all of us, and we at the Postal Service are committed to doing everything we can to help your business grow with the help of mail. That is one of the most important reasons we’ve also placed a moratorium on developing or considering any new mailing standards requirements through the end of November.

We know mailers have a lot on their plates right now, and we also need to focus on implementing Intelligent Mail services. Eliminat-ing the need to learn and understand new regulations makes life a little easier for all of us.

I do want to be clear, though, that any standards announced prior to the National Postal Forum on May 18 will be fully implemented. Our purpose in making this announcement is to take away any uncer-tainty or concern about new mailing standards requirements that we might otherwise propose during the coming months. The only other exceptions would be any requirements under the law or the relocation of facilities that would require new labeling lists. We will work closely with our stakeholders and partners to be as clear as possible when we know this is about to happen.

For us, it’s a matter of making sure we do not propose any new mailing requirements that place a burden or cost on mailers through at least November 29, when Intelligent Mail pricing takes effect.a

Steve Kearney is Senior Vice President, Customer Relations, for the U.S. Postal Service.

Indeed, MERLIN barcode readability data from April 29, 2008 through May 27 of this year shows that 96.9% of letters and flats mailings had a 90% or higher readability rate, based on almost

760,000 letter and 30,000 flat POSTNET mailings and 71,000 letter and 1,300 flat IMb mailings. As Periodical and Standard mailers begin to enter IMb mailings, we anticipate a significant increase that will allow for a more statistically sound evaluation. The data also shows that the readability rates of the POSTNET barcode and the Intelligent Mail barcode are generally within a few percentage points of each other for both letters and flats: 97.9% of POSTNET letters and 96% of IMb letters both had read rates of at least 90%. Figures were slightly lower for flats — around 94% for POSTNET flats and 90% of IMb flats had read rates of 90% or higher.


Financing options help mail centers stay

competitive in a challenging economy

fea

ture

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, American businesses, nonprofits and government agencies invest more than $1 trillion in capital goods and software each year. More than 55% of this investment is financed through loans, leases and

other financial instruments, according to a study undertaken for the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA).

In today’s challenging economic climate, commercial printers and mail houses are facing tight capital equipment budgets and cash constraints. As a result, these companies are seeking financing options like leasing programs to secure new variable data printing technologies for addressing and personalization applications.

Financing Maximizes Cash FlowCompetitive rates and flexible payment options can enable com-panies to utilize operating budgets for incremental monthly pay-ments on new equipment when capital equipment funding is not available. Equipment manufacturers may offer financing programs that allow companies to obtain 100% financing for the purchase amount of new equipment, helping them keep bank credit lines open for other business expenses and even realize potential tax advantages.

Leasing programs enable mailing companies to preserve cash or capital, especially for unforeseen expenses. Through a leasing

program, companies can set a fixed, monthly cost for acquiring new variable data printing equipment. In addition, while paying monthly installments for the equipment, companies can be using that equipment to make a profit. Many mailing companies receive income from a mix of regularly scheduled jobs, steady reoccurring revenue and less-frequent projects. The ability to space out pay-ments for new equipment can help mailing companies better align costs with profits, which can fluctuate dramatically.

Partnering with the Equipment ManufacturerFinancing variable data printers through the manufacturer or a manufacturer’s preferred equipment leasing partner can offer benefits such as a quick, simple approval process, compared with bank loans that may be restricted in an economic downturn. Banks are not lending very aggressively in today’s volatile economy, so manufacturers may offer alternative sources of capital if bank loans are not available for new equipment purchases.

Equipment leasing companies that partner with manufacturers may also offer competitive rates and wider credit windows, which are critical in a challenging economic environment. These compa-nies may have capital available to even fund start-up businesses, which may have a more difficult time securing funding than com-panies with established credit. Plus, equipment leasing firms specialize in financing capital equipment purchases, so they may have experts available who can offer insight into the appropriate

Strategic PurchasingBy Jason Lund and Paul Ringuette


solution to meet company objectives of obtaining new equipment while maximizing financial benefits, or they may be strategically aligned with the equipment manufacturer. Mailing companies can seek out leasing providers that will work with them to address specific challenges related to financing equipment and have a vari-ety of flexible solutions available to help mailers secure the new equipment they need for successfully operating their businesses.

When leasing companies and equipment manufacturers work together, the mail house can benefit because the process of researching and evaluating new equipment is streamlined with the financing process. This can help ensure the process is handled expeditiously and that financing applications are quickly evaluated and approved so the equipment can be procured in a timely man-ner. Streamlining the process helps mail houses get their new equipment up and running quickly to begin generating a return on their investment.

Options when the Lease EndsAt the end of a lease term, businesses typically have three options with regard to the leased equipment:• Return the equipment to the manufacturer or leasing partner

with no further obligation• Purchase the equipment for its fair market value or a

predetermined price fixed at the beginning of the lease term• Continue leasing for additional months

These options generally are set up at the beginning of the lease to reflect the mailing company’s future plans for the equipment. The

Government IncentivesThe American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is a tax incentive that may lower the cost of acquiring equipment this year. Qualifying purchases could result in thousands of dollars in potential 2009 tax savings for businesses. These benefits can make it more beneficial for mailing companies to purchase capital equipment in 2009 because they could significantly reduce overall cost of ownership.

Leasing providers typically monitor updates in government incentives or tax benefits that can help mailing companies max-imize equipment purchases. As they see new incentives that can positively impact mailers, they may send out announce-ments or information, helping mail houses keep up to date on the latest benefits available to consider with their accounting department.

Financing variable data printers can be both a solution to weather economic challenges and a strategic decision to make the best use of the available budget to continuously procure the most up-to-date or productive equipment. Considering financing options and available incentives ensures the decision to invest in new equipment will offer the greatest benefit to the company’s overall operating initiatives. a

Jason Lund is a graphics product manager for Videojet Technolo-gies Inc. in Wood Dale, Illinois. He is responsible for managing marketing initiatives for variable data printers, vision systems, line controllers and paper-handling equipment. He received a bach-

options enable companies to decide whether to continue using the equipment or to upgrade to new equipment when the lease ends, helping printers and mailers remain flexible with the printing equipment they have available to meet customers’ demands. Over time, there are improvements to equipment technology, engineer-ing and features. Leasing can enable mailing companies to con-tinuously upgrade equipment as lease terms end, enabling them to offer their customers the latest capabilities possible. Regularly upgrading technology can also be an advantage in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

elor’s degree in business administration from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and a master’s degree from the Darden School of Business Administration, University of Virginia, in Charlottes-ville, Virginia.

Paul Ringuette is vice president of sales for Direct Capital Corpora-tion, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He is responsible for vision and management of national strategic customer initiatives for a wide variety of finance programs. He has a degree in business management from Salem State College in Salem, Massachusetts.

Applying for financingThe process of applying for financing can seem intimidating, but when broken down, it is a relatively simple process — especially if the financing provider and equipment manu-facturer are working together:

1. The mail house or commercial printer expresses interest in financing options and fills out a credit application.2. The financing company performs a credit check. 3. Once the credit check is approved, the financing company provides the financing package and payment

schedule to the mail house or printer.4. The mail house or printer agrees to the financing package.5. The financing company issues a purchase order to the variable data printer manufacturer.6. The equipment manufacturer contacts the mail house or printer to schedule installation.


IN today’s difficult economic times, it is more important than ever to implement actions that can improve productivity and efficiency. This is especially true if there is little cost involved in implementation and there is a significant return

on investment. If these actions can be done at little or no cost, then there should be no hesitation to put them into effect.

Here are some no- to low-cost practices that can drive signifi-cant improvements in your mailing operation. If you outsource your operations, check to see if your provider has put these into effect. If not, there may be room for operational improvements and lower costs.

Commit to MeasuringMeasurement is an essential element of process improvement. You must measure your baseline to understand where improve-ment is needed and to know if improvement efforts have worked once attempted. Production management software or machine reports can be used to measure system efficiency, operational efficiency and attainment to schedule. Quality errors should also be tracked and monitored for trends. Define what you want to measure. If your organization is to be driven by metrics, the metrics used must reflect the leadership’s vision and priorities — and ideally this, in turn, should reflect the best outcome for your customer. Too often, organizations can get derailed by internally focused concentration.

See the Big PictureWhat you measure and how you attribute value to that measure-ment must be balanced. An emphasis on efficiency should not come at the expense of quality. An emphasis on internal finances should not come at the expense of on-time performance to the customer.

Creating a balanced scorecard is an effective tool to monitor the needs of all organizational stakeholders. A sample balanced score-card might look like the following chart, which depicts which met-rics are important to each stakeholder:

These low-cost practices can bring significant improvements

By Nick Kepf

Efficiency GainsTargeting Mail Center

CustomerExternal qualityOn-time performance

AssociateTurnoverEmployee competency

InternalLabor productivityInternal qualityOperational efficiency

FinancialUnit cost/cost per pieceMachine utilization

This scorecard can be displayed in a common area of your opera-tions so that it becomes a continuous reminder of how and why your metrics should be balanced so as not to sacrifice one area of value for another area. This provides a quick visual queue for everyone to understand what the goals are for the organization.


Standardize ProcessesProcesses that are repeatable and sustainable are the most effi-cient. The enemy of repeatability is variation. Through standard-ization, you can reduce or eliminate variation and drive more consistent performance.

Where to Standardize?For example, check the speed settings on your inserters. Chances are that the same or like jobs are run at different speeds by differ-ent operators. Without standard speed settings, it is difficult to predict performance because the output from different machines running the same work will vary due to differences in machine cycle speeds selected or preferred by operators.

Also, shift turnover procedures often lack standardization. Are all of the necessary critical tasks being completed by each operator every time? And if so, is the amount of idle time per machine at each turnover consistent and within a set standard?

Really See ItLean Manufacturing is an approach to processing that systemati-cally eliminates or minimizes waste. A facility incorporating Lean

Manufacturing usually has implemented visual management tech-niques, which show information or work status in a way that is quickly and easily understood and help to keep order in the work-place while increasing professionalism. They also create a climate of operational discipline in the work area.

Here are some quick ways to begin a visual management program:• Mark staging areas at each machine.• Establish an operational status board.• Use lights or flags to denote machine status or attainment to

goal at the machines.• Use visual signals to replenish inventory kept on the produc-

tion floor.

These practices will lead to efficiency gains now and can set a cultural tone to drive more improvements in the future. They can be implemented with little or no cost but need the drive and focus of the leadership to be sustained and to be effective. Experience shows the results attained are well worth the effort. a

Nick Kepf is the Director of Customer Productivity Solutions at BÖWE BELL + HOWELL.

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A comprehensive approach to the challenge of Undeliverable

As Addressed mail

By Jeff Stangle

IN part one of this two-part series, we’ll uncover the problem of Undeliverable As Addressed Mail, what the United States Postal Service is doing about it and how

mailers can significantly reduce the costs associated with it.

To someone unfamiliar with the subject of Undeliverable As Addressed (UAA) mail, it might be considered a very “last century” problem. Let’s face it; in today’s pervasively digital environment, the idea that we don’t know someone’s correct address seems posi-tively pre-millennial. One would think that at the very least, UAA mail is a problem that’s pretty much disappearing, right?

Wrong! In fact, both the size and scope of the UAA mail problem is increasing, and its related costs are also heading upward.

A Growing ProblemOn average, each piece of return mail costs the mailer $3.00 in operational expenses, including printing, postage, inbound han-dling, analysis and re-mailing costs. It doesn’t include the cost of missed marketing opportunities, uncollected receivables and lost USPS discounts. Also, unless the mailer pays extra for a special endorsement, undeliverable Standard Mail is destroyed by the USPS. Finally, every mailpiece we print and mail has an environ-mental impact, from the forests that supply the paper to the fossil fuel used to deliver it. This creates even more costly waste from UAA mail.

Since the USPS doesn’t typically return Standard Mail that is unde-liverable, companies have no visibility into how much of this mail is destroyed. The reality is that 6.4% of all USPS Standard Mail is destroyed because it is undeliverable. Marketers frequently use USPS Standard Mail to try out new lists. Since mail using bad

Right MovesMaking the


addresses is not returned, however, they have no idea who on those lists they couldn’t reach or how much of a given list is productive.

This brings up a key point: Most mailers severely underestimate their UAA mail problem and its impact on their bottom line. They measure it by the return mail they receive, but that only includes USPS First-Class Mail. Sixty-three percent of all UAA mail is USPS Standard Mail, which means tracking First-Class Mail returns only uncovers a bit more than a third of the problem! Remember, the USPS only awards work-sharing discounts for correct and current addresses. Therefore, to maintain discounts, addresses need to be corrected for all mail, not just the portion returned.

Tighter Postal RegulationsThe USPS is now putting even more pressure on mailers to solve their UAA mail problems. On November 23, 2008, the USPS expanded the Move Update requirement to include USPS Stan-dard Mail in addition to First-Class Mail, which is already required.

Seventy-five percent of UAA mail is the result of a move by the intended recipient. For this reason, the USPS has tight-ened Move Update regulations. Compliance will require going beyond running a file through address software. Instead, mail-ers need to update their databases with move information. This year, the USPS will start testing for moves at Mail Accep-tance units using MERLIN. It’s only a matter of time before addresses that haven’t been updated will be caught by MER-LIN, putting the entire mailing at risk of failing the test. When mailers engage IT people to run address software like CASS software and the NCOALink product, they’re meeting the mini-mum requirements to earn postage workshare discounts, but they’re not really fixing bad addresses.

Probing the ProcessTo dramatically reduce UAA mail, a comprehensive approach is needed to establish best practices for finding address errors, cor-recting them and keeping the database of addresses consistently

For both classes of mail, Move Update processing is now required more frequently — every 95 days instead of every 185 days as previously mandated. The USPS started enforcing these regula-tions in May of this year, and compliance is necessary to receive postage discounts… so what should a mailer do?

Going Beyond Addressing ToolsThere are plenty of high-quality products and services that can help verify, cleanse and update addresses. Many mailers already use addressing tools to clean addresses and meet postal regula-tions. Often, though, addressing tools are not used properly. Most mailers purchase address cleansing products to obtain postage discounts without understanding the difference between obtain-ing discounts on postage and correcting addresses. This explains why some mailers have three percent of their mail returned, while others have less than 0.25% returned using the same address cleansing products.

Cleansing and maintaining addresses requires an addressing process. A quality managed address services vendor who has extensive experience in understanding this process and in-depth knowledge of postal regulations can help.

up-to-date. To implement these best practices, mailers need to look beyond addressing products and examine the processes for address capture and maintenance they have in place.

Addressing is a complicated process. Consider the many ways an address becomes bad: data entry errors, customer and prospect moves, new data restrictions... Many mailers today are finding that they need an addressing expert to examine the process. Speak with the USPS or a qualified postal consultant whose broad expe-rience can be leveraged to determine the specific areas where a mailer’s operation needs help. Postal consulting experts have access to many of the USPS-certified tools that can fix addresses, and their range of experience helps them optimize each tool to get the best fit.

In part two of this series, we’ll learn about the three-step pro-cess for solving the UAA mail problem and look at two real-world examples of companies who got it right. a

Jeff Stangle, CMDSM, MQC, Six Sigma Black Belt, is Direc-tor of Solutions Development, Mailstream Consulting, Pitney Bowes Management Services.

Since the USPS doesn’t typically return Standard Mail that is undeliverable, companies have no visibility into how much of this mail is destroyed. The reality is 6.4% of all USPS Standard Mail

is destroyed because it is undeliverable.


The year 2008, in short, presented an extraordinary set of chal-lenges to the practitioners and suppliers of direct mail marketing.

Unprecedented economic, political and even social forces con-verged to rewrite — at times radically — long-established rules governing how customers are cultivated and profits are earned. Likewise, certain business models dependent on the mail for a flow of prospects were dispatched as obsolete, often the victims of financial concerns far removed from the everyday issues of pack-age design, postage rates and even return on investment.

To mailer and supplier alike, the influences of the last 18 months have brought about nothing short of complete transformation to a medium that had grown crisply and consistently for over a decade.

Direct mail has seen its influence as a high-volume, mass-oriented response driver all but vanish. Skyrocketing costs have critically wounded industries (including the catalog, credit card and not-for-profit sectors) that long depended on the mail as a source of new revenue. And a supply chain whose fortunes were tied to mail’s con-tinuing primacy in the marketing mix has been greatly undermined, with an assembly of newly shuttered production facilities standing as testament to the impact of that rapid upheaval.

But while direct mail’s transformation has been grim for some, it has also brought with it pockets of real (and, apparently, reason-able) growth opportunity. The demise of mass mailing, for example, has opened the door for new approaches leveraging data for bet-ter targeting and additional dimensions of personalization. And the

Vertical market

trends in direct

mail 2009

By Jonathan Margulies

“Before, everyone knew how to read the market conditions. Now there’s no visibility — it’s like we’re fighting through a fog. I don’t know if there is an end to this, or if there are rocks out there that we still have yet to hit… That lack of visibility is our biggest challenge.” — Zain Raj, Chief Executive Officer, Euro RSCG Discovery

A Channel

in Transformation


maturity of digital channels — and growing availability of tools to coordinate campaign execution across media — has allowed for better integration of mail with email, search and online advertising, leading to improved customer experiences and higher returns.

Increasingly, both mailers and service providers are coming to rec-ognize that opportunities like these — which leverage the unique benefits of a tactile, personal channel like the mail — have real value as part of sophisticated marketing programs. But absent a few nar-row applications, it appears that the days of direct mail as a high-vol-ume, stand-alone acquisition vehicle are numbered. How and when that change comes to be — and who will lead the charge — are questions that remain unanswered. To an industry in the midst of transformation, they remain the great challenges and opportunities for 2009 and beyond.

Direct Mail by the NumbersFor the first time in over 60 years of detailed record-keeping, US marketers cut back their investment in direct mail in 2008, spending a total of $56.7 billion on preparation, production and postage connected to their mail efforts — a drop of three percent from 2007 spending.

More than any other factor, economic upheaval in the mail-centric financial services vertical fueled the deterioration in spending. The collapse of several prominent brands in the mortgage and lend-ing, retail banking and credit card segments — as well as dramatic changes in credit policy forced by the burgeoning recession — took literally billions of pieces out of the mailstream, compounding the already punishing effects of the economic downturn and a May 2008 postage rate hike that saw rates increase by an average of 2.9% across mail classes.

In light of the continuing recession and another looming postage rate increase — as well as a series of systemic influences linked to consumer channel preference — the spending decline seen in 2008 is not likely to be the last. Though economic indicators for the remainder of the year remain hazy, it appears likely that direct mail spending will fall another eight to nine percent in 2009 as the reces-sion takes its toll across verticals and more mailers shift spending into lower-cost marketing vehicles in line with consumer interest and budgetary demands.

Leading Macro Trends from 2008Looking back at last year, six developments emerged that impacted both marketers and service providers:• Total spending on direct mail in the United States declined

approximately three percent, with the economic recession forcing marketers in several verticals to dramatically curtail their investment in costly high-volume acquisition programs.

• Direct mail volumes declined dramatically — even more precip-itously than the falloff in spending, in fact — as mailers sought to integrate more precise targeting methodologies, production efficiencies and other value-focused initiatives in an attempt to cut costs and preserve the economic return of their mail programs.

• The rapid decline in volume demand brought about an effective crisis in the direct mail production sector, forcing some provid-ers to consolidate or close unused capacity — and leading oth-ers to seek alternate business models altogether.

• The decline in demand for production volume accelerated both price degradation and demand for better data, analytics and

multichannel integration capabilities throughout virtually all sectors of the production industry.

• Though some marketers shifted mail spending to digital media as a lower-cost alternative to their traditional campaigns, most have found that online channels demonstrate greater value as a complement to direct mail applications, reinforcing the value of integrated programs.

• Environmentally friendly marketing practices emerged as a “need-to-have” priority early in 2008, but the imperative to publicize these efforts (though not necessarily to implement them) diminished in the latter half of the year as the recession pulled marketer and consumer attention to other priorities.

The Outlook for 2009The continuing economic recession (and uncertainty over its direc-tion) is heavily influencing the outlook for direct mail through the remainder of 2009:• While direct mail volumes traditionally bounce back after a

period of economic stagnation, the magnitude and timing of the current recession are expected to affect the direct mail channel in a long-term, systemic way — effectively ending the prevalence of untargeted, high-volume campaigns.

• The accelerating shift from “mass” to “targeted” direct mail programs has been enabled by an increasingly powerful array of marketing automation technologies, many of which are making their way into the toolsets of marketers both large and small.

• Independent of the effects of the recession, rising postage rates, declining volumes, an increasingly complex array of postal regulations and other threats to delivery efficiency may compromise the viability of the Postal Service as the principal mail delivery channel. a

Jonathan Margulies is a director at Winterberry Group and may be reached at [email protected]. To download the full version of this white paper, visit www.winterberrygroup.com/research. This article was adapted from A Channel in Transformation: Vertical Market Trends in Direct Mail 2009, a new white paper published by Winterberry Group, a New York-based strategic consulting firm that serves the advertising, marketing services and technology and digital media industries.

2004-2009E Estimated Direct Mail Spending (in $ Billions) & Year-over-Year Spending Growth

(Percentage Change from Previous Year)

Source: Winterberry Group analysis of data from the Direct Marketing Association and various other sources


What prompts a person to leave a success-ful career in the private sector to head up product development and marketing for the U.S. Postal Service — the same USPS that is staring down a potential decline in mail

volume of 22 billion pieces and a net loss of $6.5 billion this year?

For Robert “Bob” Bernstock, the Postal Service’s president of mailing and shipping services, the answer seems to be that he enjoys a challenge. While there are plenty of challenges in the private sector these days, there really is no challenge quite like the USPS. With its odd mandate — operate like a business and be self-supporting, yet provide a public service known as the universal service obligation — it is unlike any business in a com-petitive market. The current business model is broken, and it is doubtful that postal volumes will ever return to their past glory. But, should postal brass seek opportunities in areas beyond the USPS’ core business, they run up against the constraints of the current postal law.

What’s an aggressive and innovative marketer to do? Bern-stock, who has held leadership positions with Campbell Soup Co., Scott’s Miracle-Gro and Vlasic Foods, among others, has

decided to start at the foundation: Reshape the organization, changing the culture and the attitude along the way.

“Start with structure and strategy. I look at it as a supply chain,” he says. “If we are going to generate revenue, we must have a demand chain to complement the supply chain.”

The Postal Service’s supply chain has various aspects, including a geographic portion, a systems part and the functional parts of the Postal Service, including retail, processing and delivery, Bernstock explains. He has set up the departments under his responsibility in the private-sector model, creating business units in Ground Shipping, Expedited, Marketing, Transaction and Remittance, Special Services and International.

“The big change is that someone takes ownership of these,” he says.

Each unit has profit-and-loss responsibility, which feeds the own-ership notion because people working in those units have a direct stake in the success of their operations, he says. From this start-ing point, he has begun to manage the channels, which include a reworking of the usps.com website and reorganization of the sales force and the call centers. The idea is that all three channels — usps.com, sales force and call centers — speak to each other.

Bernstock has set goals for the department that include launch-ing at least five new initiatives in the marketplace each year, with a revenue target of $1 billion growth from new initiatives. He and his group have come up with a list of 16 significant revenue-generation initiatives, eight of which would require no change in the current law, and the other eight would need some minor modifications to the Postal Accountability and Enhance-ment Act, he shares. The current framework of the USPS makes it different from the private sector, providing limitations in some ways but opportunities as well, Bernstock says.

Another way the Postal Service can be like the private sector, Bernstock continues, is to tap its valuable partnership network, which includes mail service providers and other suppliers that are out-selling mailing services every day. This partnership gives

Bernstock Seeks Innovative

Approach to USPS Marketing

Will it work in this climate?By Kate Muth


the Postal Service a longer reach into the marketplace, as pro-viders are often on the “face” of mail to the end user.

“We couldn’t be as strong without the mail service provider model,” he says. “There’s a huge opportunity here, and that’s why we are dedicating resources to support this mail service provider network.” As part of this effort, the USPS is reworking its sales network, Bernstock says. Further, he envisions joint sales and marketing calls, where a postal sales team and a ser-vice provider are calling on a common customer.

Many in the service provider industry are encouraged by this vision, although they warn that Bernstock needs to understand that the Postal Service cannot regulate and operate in the same space. Still, given the sometimes indifferent approach the Postal Service has had to its partners in the past, the industry welcomes a cooperative approach.

“We are encouraged about the direction the Postal Service is headed,” says John Campo, vice president of US postal relations for Pitney Bowes. “Pitney Bowes seeks to engage the Postal Ser-vice in partnership opportunities. By leveraging our rapid innova-tion, we can work together to boost the entire mailing industry.”

While Bernstock is a seasoned veteran of business, the Postal Service is a different beast in many ways. Outsiders who come to the Postal Service are often eyed with suspicion, both inter-nally and externally. Longtime postal employees sometimes cling to traditional ways of doing things or aren’t always sold on a reorganization strategy. And in some cases, it’s with good reason. Never far from postal minds are the early moves of an outsider postmaster general, Marvin Runyon, whose immedi-ate personnel “housecleaning” ended up costing the Postal Service dearly on the service side. Commercial customers also can be skeptical of outsiders, given the large learning curve on postal issues and the oddi-ties around the Postal Service’s unique mandate. Further, many stakeholders have seen the bureaucratic tendencies of a large government organization wear down even the most energetic and dynamic officer.

Bernstock’s decidedly private-sector approach — complete with the management buzzwords of the day — at first can be a bit off-putting, some customers and employees say. But mail-ers and suppliers that have worked closely with Bernstock are impressed with his vision. And more than a few postal employ-ees have said he brings a fresh approach and a well-needed kick in the pants to the organization.

“I like the fresh perspective Bob brings to the Postal Service,” says Joy Franckowiak, director of postal affairs and distribution for ValPak. “While the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act allows the Postal Service to be more innovative and cre-ative, it seems as though Bob has brought it to the forefront of the organization.”

Still, results will speak loudest, and those appear to be some ways off. The Postal Service has bled volume over the past year, and efforts to revive the patient are not easy in a tough economy. As for future ideas, the industry would like to see

the Postal Service make greater inroads in understanding their businesses. This would help the USPS shape strategy and pur-sue the most valuable ideas in a timely manner, industry lead-ers say.

As Franckowiak notes, “By understanding the mailer’s business and potential needs better, the USPS would maximize oppor-tunities to move more quickly with initiatives while diminish-ing many of the misunderstandings around proposed changes, whether technical or procedural.”

On the idea of moving quickly, Bernstock would no doubt agree. He wants an aggressive approach, and he makes no apologies for that. “If we do nothing, we will be like the US auto industry,” Bernstock says. “We are moving with great urgency to prevent that from happening and to seize growth opportunities where we can.” a

Kate Muth is President of Muth Communications, a writing, edit-ing and consulting firm. She has written on postal topics for the past 14 years. You can reach her at [email protected].

NO APOLOGIES FOR A THICK DMMOne key to success, of course, is surrounding oneself with successful people. Bob Bernstock couldn’t neces-sarily pluck top talent from the private sector to fill his staff, but he managed to lure many of the Postal Service’s rising stars. Among his direct reports are Susan Plonkey, Vice President of Sales; Jim Cochrane, Vice President of Ground Shipping; Gary Reblin, Vice President of Expe-dited Shipping; and Sharon Daniel, Chief of Staff and Manager of Product Develop-ment.

Bernstock’s Chief of Staff Sha-ron Daniel is well-known to the mailing industry, having served as manager of mailing stan-dards for two and a half years before moving to her new posi-tion. As the former chief rules-writer for the Postal Service, Daniel knows the Domestic Mail Manual well, and she has heard complaints about its size and scope. She says the USPS will never get the DMM on an index card, and she makes no apologies for that.

“Consumers like things simple. Commercial mail-ers like things complex so they can optimize,” Daniel shares. “A thick DMM is not necessarily a bad thing. Commercial mailers want options, and this means dif-ferent regulations.”

The Postal Service, however, wants to know where rules or regulations get in customers’ way. This is where change should occur, she says.

“The DMM is a living document. We can change it when rules no longer make sense, and we can change the rules to reflect new technology as well,” she shares.

Managed Address ServicesPitney Bowes Management Services, Inc. (PBMS) announces its new Mailstream Consulting Service offering, which helps mailers improve address quality, maximize delivery and reduce Undeliv-erable As Addressed (UAA) mail — providing the opportunity for significant cost savings and revenue growth to increase the value of mail. Pitney Bowes Managed Address Services can improve address delivery by correcting between 50-80% of a company’s deficient addresses and keep addresses current so that mail is delivered to the right person at the right place.

Some benefits of Managed Address Services include companies being able to: improve communications with their customers; re-duce wasted costs and lost opportunities associated with UAA mail; reduce wasted paper, envelopes and CO2 emissions; increase barcoded mail and postage discounts; help ensure compliance with changing United States Postal Service (USPS) regulations; and con-trol a complicated, cross-functional process. www.pb.com

DS-1200 Modular, High-Volume Inserting System Neopost introduces its DS-1200 high-volume inserting system,

which offers mail center managers an unsurpassed level of pro-ductivity for processing and monitoring the widest variety of mail-ing applications, especially during rush jobs. The DS-1200 has been designed to operate at the highest practical speed and ef-ficiency — up to 12,000 envelopes per hour — streamlining the entire mailing process, from input to throughput to output, even during peak or rush times. The high-capacity sheet feeder and ver-tical envelope reception stacker enables you to maintain the high-est level of operational productivity.

The modular design of the DS-1200 supports the widest range of mailing applications. Its ability to handle a document packet thick-ness of up to 6mm allows you to process a wide variety of mail items, adapting to promotional and direct marketing campaigns or handling invoices, monthly statements and much more… virtually all your company’s current and future mailing needs. Applications requiring top, middle or bottom addresses are fully supported, eliminating operational costs incurred in printing and stocking vari-ous types of envelopes. The DS-1200 lets you send multiple docu-ments, use glossy or coated paper stock, process business reply envelopes and mail thick booklets. www.neopostinc.com a

New Products


MST • Aug 34 • Products.indd 34 8/12/09 10:57 PM

Does the USPS Understand Our Business?

Reality Check With Wanda Senne

“Walk a mile in my shoes / Just walk a mile in my shoes / Before you abuse, criticize and accuse /Then walk a mile in my shoes”These lyrics are by Joe Smith; the performance by Elvis Presley was released June 23, 1970. These lyrics apply even today when I hear people say, “The United States Postal Service just doesn’t understand our business.” I heard that sentiment many times dur-ing the months of April, May and June at industry meetings and the National Postal Forum. I have felt the same way when trying to explain the impact just one “small” regulation or policy change makes in costs to my clients, my company and our industry — costs that have a huge impact in today’s business world.

I wonder if my May “Reality Check” had some impact resulting in the moratorium announced at the NPF calling for: no mailing standard regulation changes the rest of this year (clarified that any standard that USPS has already announced and has an upcoming effective date before the end of November will take effect ). Back to what I wrote in May — even the moratorium (that received resounding applause) was confusing!

However, now that we have a status quo for requirements (at least as we head to print!), is the USPS listening, hearing and try-ing to learn our business? The moratorium was a start. But some areas of the USPS are obviously not listening. I read a DMM Advi-sory just this morning calling for a specific tolerance for barcode readability for the Intelligent Mail barcode imaged on mailpieces. Similar to ramp-up experience with POSTNET barcode, many mail-ers do not have history with the IM barcode. Yet they will be asked

out of the gate to realize a 90% readability rate or incur additional costs — big costs.

Neither industry nor the USPS could describe our business as a “walk in the park” or a “cake walk” — especially not this past year. According to Global Insight’s February 10th U.S. Economy Report, they are starting to see some positive movement. It all depends on how optimistic you are. “We see the various stimu-lus efforts flattening out GDP in the third quarter and promoting modest growth in the fourth, with consumer spending picking up” and a “combination of fiscal stimulus and the Fed’s and Treasury’s efforts should revive the financial sector enough to at least stabi-lize the economy in the second half of 2009 and promote some recovery during 2010.”

We are all making very difficult decisions. Can those decisions have less of a negative impact on both the USPS and the industry if we each walk in the other’s shoes? Consider…

“If I could be you, If you could be me / For just one hour, we could / Find a way. To get intoeach other’s mind.” a

Wanda Senne is the National Director of Postal Development for World Marketing. She primarily focuses on establishing and main-taining ongoing communications between the USPS and World Marketing and provides postal training programs for World Mar-keting and its clients. Contact Wanda by calling 770-431-2591 or email [email protected].

A MutuAl understAnding?

Does the industry understand the usPs? Many of us think so. We attend meetings, participate in workgroups discussing technical impacts and visit USPS facilities. When was the last time a usPs employee actually spent time at your business trying to understand what it is that you do and how you do it? I don’t mean just walking through your operations areas. I mean actually sit down with you and find out what it is you have to do to get a piece of mail to them. The shoes we wear are not fuzzy pink slippers. They are combat boots!



Postal Industry Suppliers Spur Innovation

Pushing the Envelope With Kate Muth

I spent a couple of days at the National Postal Forum in mid-May as correspondent for this esteemed publication, and I was reminded of the buoyancy of this industry. I say “buoyancy” because it sug-gests both resilience and enthusiasm. Attendance was small at this Forum, but despite the tough economy and the woeful postal finances, most people I talked to expressed a determination to help the Postal Service work its way back to profitability.

Nowhere is this enthusiasm more evident than on the floor of the exhibit hall. About 130 exhibitors touted their wares at the Forum, including vendors of all shapes and sizes serving the full spectrum of postal needs. I saw big automation equipment com-panies with familiar names, but I also saw smaller companies or niche providers named after the company founder or the town the business got started in. No doubt the exhibitors would have preferred a much bigger crowd at NPF, but not one with whom I spoke complained. Instead, they put a positive spin on the smaller attendance, telling me it gave them time to talk to “decision-mak-ers” rather than spending lots of time and energy on tire-kickers.

I find a walk through the exhibit floor of the NPF to be uplifting, and it’s not just because vendors can find the silver lining in any cloud. It’s because the activity on that exhibit hall serves as a shin-ing example of the old entrepreneurial spirit that built this country. Ask a Windowbook or a Walz Certified Mail Solutions or an ecoEn-velopes why they got in this business, and they’ll tell you that they found a better way to do something. Or spend some time at the booths of industry giants such as Pitney Bowes, BÖWE BELL + HOWELL, Siemens or Northrop Grumman, and you’ll hear discus-sions about improving a customer’s process or making it more efficient or less costly.

The companies that serve this industry are always looking for a way to do something better, smarter, faster, cheaper. In many ways, they serve as the research and development (R&D) arm of the Postal Service. And that is a good thing. For a $70 billion organization, the Postal Service spends a tiny amount of money on R&D. In FY 2008, the USPS spent just $18 million on research

and development (see Cost Segment 17 of the Cost and Revenue Analysis). Compare that with Pitney Bowes, which spent just more than $200 million on R&D in 2008 to “support technologies that enhance the customer experience,” the company told me.

So, suppliers to the Postal Service act as its R&D force, which spurs innovation and boosts the overall mailing industry. It’s an industry, by the way, that employs close to nine million people. I fully appreciate that the Postal Service’s worksharing program has helped to spawn an industry of suppliers/providers/vendors. This is a good thing, too. The USPS’ worksharing program is the light years ahead of postal administrations in other countries. The worksharing program is a real form of market liberalization. But the mailing industry is hurt to some degree by the USPS’ lack of investment in research and development. For one thing, the Postal Service tends to seek solutions to operating hurdles through regulatory means rather than technology ones. I’m think-ing specifically of the rule changes to digest-sized letter pieces (also known as slim jims) that are forcing mailers to make sig-nificant changes to their operations and businesses. The USPS discovered that these types of mailpieces do not run well on the lettermail equipment, so it has changed the mail preparation rules. A number of mailers have asked why the USPS didn’t more vigor-ously pursue technology solutions, especially since postal officials encouraged slim jims after the huge increase in Standard Flats prices two years ago.

Another problem is that the Postal Service doesn’t always seem to appreciate the value of this partnership with its industry suppli-ers. One senses an underlying tension at times, where the Postal Service sees suppliers and vendors as competitors, not partners. Or, worse, the Postal Service sees them as a good place to fob off its own costs, despite the fact that cost shifts trickle down to the customer anyway and ultimately result in less mail volume. a

Kate Muth is President of Muth Communications, a writing, edit-ing and consulting firm. She has written on postal topics for the past 14 years. You can reach her at [email protected].

The answer is for everyone to work together

because the ultimate goal is the same: a healthy, thriving

postal system. Finding ways to do something better, smarter or faster benefits “shared” customers (the

mailer). Let’s keep in mind, however, that it is often the supplier community spending the money to test or

launch a bold new idea. They need to experience rewards or there will be no reason to pursue innovation.

The Solution:

MST Ads.indd 37 8/14/09 7:57 AM

BÖWE BELL + HOWELL (BBH) designs and delivers flexible, high-performance mail production solutions and services that help our customers reduce costs, increase productivity and prepare for change. Our expertise in high-speed inserting systems, postal and sorting systems, scanners and software, backed by an award-winning service organization, has earned BÖWE BELL + HOWELL a reputation for innovation, reliability and quality.

CorporateBBH corporate headquarters is located in Wheeling, Illinois, with field operations headquartered in Durham, North Carolina. Manufacturing facilities are located in Durham; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; and Wheeling, Illinois. Business Continuity and Prod-uct Reconditioning Services are also housed in Bethlehem.

BBH SolutionsInserting & FinishingBÖWE BELL + HOWELL offers a complete line of inserting systems in all performance classes to guarantee the production of printed documents safely, quickly and efficiently. The modular design of our system components provides the flexibility to enable any size mailer to process multiple applications, add functionality when needed and optimize their return on investment. BBH inserting systems range from simple to sophisti-cated based on the degree of automation and intelligence required.

SortingBÖWE BELL + HOWELL letter and flats sorting platforms, including the new Criterion APEX, are widely used in the US and in Europe to meet the application needs of presorters, private posts and government posts. Our sorting platforms are used to process more than 30 million mailpieces every day.

Production SoftwareThe BÖWE One software suite enables production mail companies to lower costs, increase the traceability and relevance of customer communications, improve productivity and monitor and analyze the quality and integrity of production operations.

Vision TechnologiesJETVision is a powerful solution that is among the world’s leading vision systems. JETVision is designed to lower costs, improve productivity, satisfy postal requirements, collect data and monitor the quality and integrity of production operations. JETVision is available in several different hardware configurations with a wide range of software offerings. The hardware configurations are designed for easy integration with a production system, process or work area, and the software offerings are packaged to address unique quality, integrity and productivity requirements.

BBH ServicesBBH Services has set itself apart with unmatched knowledge, reach, reliability and infrastructure. Our comprehensive suite of maintenance, training and support options accelerates ROI by integrating lead-edge technologies, robust performance analytics and proven methodologies. We believe a highly integrated, strategic service partnership with continuous operational improve-ment is the best foundation for achieving business success. By becoming an extension of your business dedicated to delivering the highest levels of performance and value, we enable you to focus your resources on what matters most — moving your business forward.

Our Operating PhilosophyYour success is our priority, and this commitment is based on our proud history of customer service. Our strength stems from our people, values and everyday goal of moving your business forward.

BÖWE BELL + HOWELL 3791 S. Alston Avenue Durham, NC 27713Phone: 800-220-3030Web: www.bowebellhowell.comEmail: [email protected]

BÖWE BELL + HOWELL


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Collins Ink is in its 19th year of formulating, manufacturing and selling inkjet inks. Collins Ink is cooperating with Kodak Versa-mark, Inc., by having Kodak as the exclusive distributor of all of the inks that Collins manufactures for use in Kodak Versamark continuous inkjet printers. In addition, Collins manufactures more than 80% of the KV brand inks. These inks are used in bind-ery line, lottery ticket and transactional printing applications, where speed and performance are paramount. Collins operates out of an 83,000 square foot, state-of-the-art, technical development and manufacturing site in Cincinnati, Ohio.

An authorized HP distribution partner for over three years, Collins Ink is one of a few ink companies being furnished new 45A cartridges, into which Collins’ brand inks are filled. In addition to supplying a variety of black inks to suit most application parameters, Collins has developed many specialty inks for the direct mail market. Collins Ink provides spot color matching capability in both Kodak Versamark and HP type inks. New bulk systems (Bulk Supply Stations) are available for providing HP inks for large users at lower costs.

Collins has also established significant business supplying water-based, oil-based and solvent-based inks to printers utilizing Xaar and Spectra drop on demand printheads. In addition, solvent-based inkjet inks are supplied to customers utilizing Domino and Videojet CIJ technology.

In April 2009, Collins acquired Hexion Specialty Chemical’s UV Curable Inkjet and Optical disc coating business. Collins plans to become the leader in UV inkjet technology and will improve, expand and aggressively promote the platforms in the graphic arts and industrial market.

Collins has combined its research and development skills with very efficient manufacturing. This has allowed Collins to gain market penetration through providing high-quality inks with value pricing and outstanding service.

cOllins ink cOrP.1201 Edison Dr.Cincinnati OH 45216Phone: 513-948-9000Web: www.collinsink.com

cOllins ink cOrPOraTiOn


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DHL Global Mail delivers worldwide shipping and mailing solutions that offer a full range of service options, substantial postage savings and superior delivery speed. This unmatched combination allows us to provide businesses and other high-volume mailers with the best value in the industry.

With US headquarters in Weston, Florida, DHL Global Mail is part of Deutsche Post DHL, the world’s leading logistics company. DHL Global Mail’s heritage as a mail expediter dates back to 1990, and today we are one of the largest Workshare partners of the U.S. Postal Service. Over the years we have perfected a streamlined process that accelerates domestic and international mail delivery while securing significant postal discounts. With this expedited model and one of the world’s largest delivery networks, we provide indus-try-leading transit times throughout the US and to more than 220 other countries and territories. At the same time, our efficiency enables us to offer key advantages — such as free access to our best-in-class Customer Web Portal — while maintaining competitive rates. And DHL Global Mail is continually working to further enhance our service offerings.

We recently added international shipments to our Web Portal, where customers can view tracking information and manage their mail programs. DHL Global Mail has also increased our use of five-digit ZIP Code sorting for parcels to an industry-leading 83% of customer shipments nationwide. For international shipping with full visibility, we added the U.K. and Japan this year to the long list of destinations available for our Globalmail Parcel Track & Trace service.

In addition to meeting our customers’ shipping and mailing needs, DHL Global Mail also helps companies work toward their environmental goals. Our Budget ground service offers a domestic mail and parcel option that impacts the ecosystem much less than air transport from express couriers. We are improving our carbon efficiency through our pioneering GoGreen program, and we partner with other environmentally conscious orga-nizations like the USPS.

Lee sPraTT ceO

Lee Spratt is CEO of DHL Global Mail – Americas, which provides unmatched solutions for high-volume mailers and parcel shippers. Prior to attaining this position in 2008, he held a succession of top leadership roles at the company after arriving in 2004. That year, he was Vice President of Sales & Marketing at QuikPak, when the catalog fulfillment provider was integrated with Deutsche Post Global Mail and SmartMail to form DHL Global Mail. Mr. Spratt previously held upper management positions at CheckFree Corp. and AT&T/Lucent Technologies. Under his leadership, DHL Global Mail is dedicated to simplifying the lives of customers and making them, the company’s employees and its investors more successful. Toward that end, Mr. Spratt places a high priority on maintaining strong partnerships with the USPS and other postal authorities worldwide. He also is focused on continuous service enhancement through Six Sigma methodology and reducing DHL Global Mail’s environmental impact with its GoGreen initiatives.

DHL GLObaL maiL2700 South Commerce Parkway, Suite 400Weston, FL 33331Phone: 866-546-5200Web: www.dhlglobalmail.com

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With over 25 years of experience in the postal industry and more than $3 billion in post-age printed, Endicia is the leading Internet Postage service provider. Endicia lets you print pre-paid USPS postage and shipping labels with just a computer, printer and an Internet connection.

For small business mailers, Endicia’s DAZzle Express software simplifies bulk mailing and includes a built-in utility for easy, complete mailpiece design. Its wizard-type interface helps quickly produce mailings that meet all USPS regulations and qualify for discounts on First Class and Standard Class automation letters and postcards. For high-volume mail-ers, Endicia’s Envelope Manager PAVE software provides a straightforward interface to presort existing mailing lists and qualify for discounts on First Class and Standard Class automation letters, flats or postcards.

Endicia’s presort software products take the guesswork out of mailings by printing your database in presort order with all required U.S. Postal Service forms, reports and tray labels. Internet address validation provides access to the USPS database of delivery addresses for CASS certification with no additional DVD subscription charge. Real-time Move Update capability is available for these products.

Endicia also offers an XML Address Validation tool that features fast, easy integration and allows businesses to clean up mailing lists from any platform, service or website in real time. No local DVD required. Information returned includes: Residential Delivery Indicator, USPS Rural Indicator and Delivery Point Validation.

Endicia’s PC and Mac service plans allow users to print postage and shipping labels for all domestic and International mail classes that can be purchased at the Post Office retail counter. Endicia’s functionality includes discounted Delivery Confirmation™ service, and Signature Confirmation service, discounted Parcel Insurance, Stealth Postage, Internet address verification and pre-filled customs forms. The service also allows you to check and track the status of packages with Endicia from your computer or via your account on the web. Endicia is integrated into over 60 third-party applications, helping to streamline the process even further.

In addition, Endicia’s PictureItPostage service allows businesses and individuals to print customized postage with their logos, images or pictures.

amine KhechfeGeneral manaGer

As General Manager for Endicia, Amine Khechfe is responsible for directing all aspects of the Endicia business unit as well as managing its position within the DYMO Technology Global Business Unit of Newell Rubbermaid. Graduating with a Masters in Science in engineering from Stanford University, Amine has held a variety of management roles in engineering, management consulting, software development, marketing and business development. Prior to co-founding Endicia in 1987, he worked at AT&T Information Systems and TRANE. “Endicia allows you to take advantage of all the benefits of shipping and mailing with the U.S. Postal Service.”

endicia247 High StreetPalo Alto CA 94301Phone: 650-321-2640 x140Web: www.endicia.com/vmst

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Neopost USA is the American operating company of Neopost Group, the world’s fastest-growing provider of mailing and shipping solutions. Leveraging unmatched industry exper-tise, we partner with our customers to help them achieve the absolute highest level of mailing operation efficiency. Utilizing innovative products and services, Neopost’s mail management strategies and best practices provide the value and peace of mind our cus-tomers deserve. Our objective is to bring simplicity and efficiency to the mailing process in order to make their businesses run more effectively.

Throughout its 80-year history, the Neopost Group has pioneered creative yet practical mailing solutions, including a number of “firsts” in advanced mail processing equipment. Today, Neopost USA offers a complete line of Neopost and Hasler-branded mailing, ship-ping and document handling products for offices and mail centers of all sizes.

In addition, Hasler offers a full range of document and mail management solutions designed to offer better control over your entire mailing operations through improved mailflow optimization. This includes increased efficiency, enhanced mailpiece security and integrity and reduced costs. These value-added mailing solutions have had a significant and very positive impact on every step of the mailflow process, with many Hasler custom-ers having dramatically reduced their mailing and shipping costs.

The Neopost Group continues to strive for mail process innovation, with more than 300 people working on future generations of systems, software, infrastructures and networks linked to mail management. This combination of new product development, value-added services and a nationwide network of dealers and direct sales team confirms Neopost’s commitment to providing real mailing solutions and the highest level of customer service in the industry.

dennis lesTrange

PresidenT & ceO

Dennis LeStrange has guided and overseen the creation of Neopost USA out of several separate operating companies. The new organization continues to market its two flagship brands — Neopost and Hasler — through dealer and direct sales distribution channels. Under Mr. LeStrange’s leadership, the company has achieved profitable growth through continuous product innovation and process improvement, as well as through engaged employees who deliver a superior level of customer satisfaction. Dennis has extensive experience in the office equipment and copier industry. He was Regional Operations Manager for A-Copy in Boston before becoming its president and CEO. He was later appointed Senior Vice President, Corporate Officer of IKON North America, and in 2008, he was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Neopost USA. LeStrange has a BS in Accounting and Business Administration from Empire State College SUNY.

Hasler478 Wheelers Farms RoadMilford CT 06461Phone: 800-995-2035Web: www.haslerinc.com

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Documents destined for the mailstream are a critical communication tool. For over 62 years, Kern has been helping companies get their valuable and time-sensitive documents into the mailstream for delivery to residential and business mailboxes on six continents. While Kern is best known for delivering the fastest and finest production inserting equip-ment in the world, we have expanded our reach into complete end-to-end solutions that include: Document Mail Finishing systems for inserting and mail production; Document Finishing on Demand for the automated processing of printed material and documents through complete production solutions; Document Logistics Systems for the traying and handling of finished mail, and Kern’s Automated Document Factory System, mailFactory, which is a comprehensive suite of web-enabled software designed to optimize the man-agement of a complete production print and mail center.

Kern most recently launched the Kern 2600 Multimailer, which has been recognized for its flexibility, ability to incorporate up to four input channels and integrated reading capa-bilities for maximum integrity. Understanding the need for customizable solutions and constant improvement, Kern invests heavily in research and development to achieve the next level of overall production efficiency and automation.

Kern is fundamentally focused on customer success. We are dedicated to delivering a quality, competitive and on-time solution. We are continuously striving to improve our end-to-end, innovative solutions as well as services through design, customer feedback and employee participation. In 2008, Kern, Inc was awarded the ISO 9001: 2000 certifi-cation for the implementation of a Quality Management System. At Kern, quality is an inherent part of everything we do, from production mail solutions to service and support. We see this as a direct tie to deep partnerships and, ultimately, the success of customers.

Today, Kern enjoys a global presence with a direct worldwide distribution through 15 sub-sidiaries and over 60 distribution partners. Every Kern system is backed by our customer success guarantee to deliver 10 years of production grade output when maintained under a Kern full-service maintenance agreement. From premier high speed inserting systems to complete Automated Document Factory Systems, Kern is a global leader in production mail and document management solutions that is truly committed to helping customers succeed.

Dr. ThOmas BrOck

PresiDenT & ceO

Dr. Thomas Brock is the President and Chief Executive Officer for Kern, Inc. He is a career leadership professional with 17 years of experience in the production mail business. An alumnus of the University of Michigan, Thomas Brock holds his Bachelor degree with Big Ten honors. In addition, he holds multiple advanced Master and Doctoral degrees. While finishing his studies at the University of Minnesota, Central Michigan, Michigan and Chicago, Brock became a change agent with the insight, vision and enthusiasm necessary to inspire teams for impressive results. He is an avid sports enthusiast and former professional athlete, having been drafted by both the Seattle Mariners and the Atlanta Braves major league baseball organizations in the 80s.

kern3940 Gantz Road, Suite AGrove City OH 43123Phone: 614-317-2600Web: www.kerncan.comEmail: [email protected]

kern


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Since 1967, Kirk-Rudy has innovated solutions for addressing and paper handling for the direct mail, printing, newspaper and card industries. Because we engineer and manufacture our systems from end to end in our state-of-the-art Georgia facility, we can control costs while delivering outstanding quality and performance. That means outstanding value for our customers worldwide.

Kirk-Rudy offers cost-effective solutions that are exceptionally well-built, flexible and easy to operate and maintain. Our global network of dealers offers a full range of modular Kirk-Rudy components, allowing you to create a custom system that meets your needs precisely.

With thousands of systems installed worldwide, Kirk Rudy offers InkJet Addressing Systems that utilize the latest in Piezo technology from Spectra as well as Thermal InkJet technology from HP.

Kirk Rudy’s wide selection of water-based, solvent, oil-based and UV Inks enables you to print on almost any substrate.

Hardware and software is developed in-house by our own team of engineers — this allows for exceptional support and product enhancement capabilities.

Our Graphical User Interface is intuitive and easy to learn, reducing training costs.

Need spare parts? Because we machine everything in-house, Kirk Rudy is able to maintain a spare parts inventory on every product ever sold.

Let Kirk Rudy design a custom solution that’s right for you!

KiRK-RUDY125 Lorraine ParkwayWoodstock GA 30188Phone: 770-427-4203Web: www.kirkrudy.com

KiRK-RUDY


MST Whos Who.indd 44 8/13/09 9:32 AM

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09Melissa Data is a leading provider of contact data quality solutions to capture, clean,

enhance and disperse contact data for successful direct mail marketing and data manage-ment operations. Our address management solutions can reduce undeliverable mail and shipping errors by up to 80%. Established in 1985, Melissa Data has helped over 5,000 customers, including Disney, Mercury Insurance, Verizon, Nestle and Saab, improve the quality of their data for effective communications and improve their relationships with customers.

Mailing SolutionsMAILERS+4 CASS/PAVE-certified postal automation software processes a mailing list for the lowest postage rates, expedient postal processing and the greatest delivery and response rates. MAILERS+4 validates addresses for ZIP+4 accuracy using the DPV, LAC-SLink and SuiteLink systems; eliminates duplicates; postal presorts; and prints POSTNET and Intelligent Mail barcoded labels/container tags and all required documents. Add-on components include eLOT, Residential/Business Delivery Indicator (RBDI), Canadian Addresser and a direct link to NCOALink Move-Update services.

The Business Mailers Automation Toolkit is a fully scriptable suite of customizable com-ponents to automate CASS address validation and PAVE postal presorting into custom mailing applications.

Database Management SoftwareMatchUp enables efficient merge/purge capability by identifying duplicate records using up to 16 matchcodes plus your unique codes; RightFielder transforms messy text data into correctly fielded and organized information that can be used with database programs; Personator splits full, multiple and inverse names into their components, appends gender and generates proper salutations.

Mailing ListsGet online counts, purchase and download your lists in minutes. Choose your leads for saturation rate mailings and targeted B2B, B2C and B2E communications. Business, con-sumer and specialty lists are available with geographic and demographic selects, with guarantees for low price and deliverability.

Data Hygiene, Enhancement ServicesCASS ZIP+4, NCOALink; new UAA processing (multisource ACS and self-reported moves) DSF2, plus address, phone and email appends; business and consumer enhancements; Do Not Mail/Call; NAICS and SIC code appends; duplicate and deceased indicators; and more.

How We Are UniqueMelissa Data is in the unique position of being able to offer a full complement of cost-efficient solutions from a single source for effective contact data management for direct-mail, target marketing, database management and enterprise application excellence. We offer unlimited technical support and industry-related education. Products are backed by a 30-day, full-money back guarantee. Trial evaluations are available for most products by calling 1-800-MELISSA or visiting www.MelissaData.com

RaymOnd melissa

FOundeR & PResidenT

Raymond Melissa, a computer industry veteran with over 35 years of experience, is founder and president of Melissa DATA. Ray enjoys no greater challenge than exploring ideas for innovative products that will help organizations save money, increase profits and be successful.

Established in 1985 in Orange County, California, Ray began with a single product based on the simple idea to provide a database of postal ZIP Codes on floppy disks for use on a PC. Next came the development of MAILERS+4, the company’s landmark USPS-certified mailing software to save mailers money on postage and printing and help them comply with all requirements for discounted mailings. The company has developed an international reseller network, a nationally recognized catalog and a dynamic website that averages over 70,000 unique visitors a day. Melissa DATA was named by DM Review Magazine as a Top 100 Company.

melissa daTa22382 Avenida EmpresaRancho Santa Margarita CA 92688Phone: 800-MELISSAWeb: www.MelissaData.comEmail: [email protected]

melissa daTa


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About Our CompanyMidSouth Technologies, an NPI company, is a recognized leader in providing innovative mail processing solutions. MidSouth is a pioneer in developing technology to extend the life of mail processing equipment, with particular expertise in retrofitting and servicing PTI and J-series transports.

With new and refurbished machines and parts, supporting your business through expansion and change is easy. Adding innovative products designed specifically for existing transport machines extends the life and functionality of your assets.

With outstanding customer service and a portfolio of cost-effective solutions, MidSouth enables mail processors to: • Reduce operational costs and capital requirements• Increase productivity and profitability• Improve asset utilization

Products and Services:• Up and Over

UPGRADES:• Argosy Post Platinum OCR Software • Stacker Extensions• Inkjet Printers • Wear Strip• Barcode Reader

How We Are UniqueThe leaders of MidSouth literally assembled, tested and installed nearly every PTI system in the field. Because of MidSouth Technologies’ broad product knowledge, you no longer have to tolerate poor service from a vendor simply because they wrote the software for your sorter. MidSouth Technologies offers affordable operating system conversions and Intelligent Mail Barcode upgrades for all PTI and BÖWE BELL + HOWELL “J” Series Transports. MidSouth has extensive mail industry knowledge and a proven history of success with commercial mailers, presort shops, presort bureaus, banks, fulfillment shops, colleges and large companies with incoming sorting needs. MidSouth serves over 150 customers in the United States and Europe.

With MidSouth Technologies, you can customize, streamline and maintain your operations, giving you a competitive advan-tage by adding innovative products designed specifically for existing machines.

midsOuTh TechnOlOgies1400 Virgil Anderson DriveDrumright OK 74030Phone: 918-352-8300Web: www.midsouthtek.comEmail: [email protected]

midsOuTh TechnOlOgies, an nPi cOmPany


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NPI… Efficiency through Innovation. It is this commitment that has made NPI a prominent figure in the mail automation industry since 1977. We dominate in the field with leading-edge sorter technology, which is shown in the products we offer our customers. Our “Customer First” policy has resulted in sorter installations throughout the world. Each year, NPI continues to expand its visibility in the market with progressive, efficiently designed sorters. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, we manufacture high-quality, affordable sorters that are equipped with the most current technology. NPI’s diverse customer base includes post offices to print shops, banks to insurance companies. We employ associates from all areas of the automation industry to help our customers find the best production environment for their operation. Whatever the application, letters, flats, incoming or outgoing, NPI is able to offer you a solution.

Products and Services• Flats/LightParcelSorter: •Low-SpeedFlatSorter: -Omnisort -OmegaMixedSorter• High-SpeedLetterSorter: •MeteringAlternative - Maxim - Weigh on the Fly• High-SpeedFlatsSorter: -Manifesting -Vsort •In-lineLabeler• Low-SpeedLetterSorter: -Recovery -OmegaSPAllsystemshavethecapabilityofOCR,BCR,IncomingandHandwrittenoptions.

How We Are UniqueSorting.That’sourpassion.It’swhatwedo.NPI’sstrictfocusonsortingequipmentmakesusthepreferredvendorforyourneeds. Our commitment starts from when you purchase equipment all the way through our quality customer service staff. NPI applies the most up-to-date technology with every sorter we sell. Every system we manufacture is designed with the customerinmind.Fromthepickoff,OCR,BCR,electronicsandWindows-basedopenarchitecture,ourgoalistoprovidethemosteffectivesorterforcustomerslargeorsmall.NPIbelieveseverycustomerisapriority.Westillhavethat“Busi-nesses on every level deserve the same attention to service.” We listen to our customers’ needs and provide custom-tailored applications for their specific operations. When it’s time to look for sorting equipment, look no further than NPI.

nPi3901LaReunionPkwyDallas TX 75212Phone:888-821-SORTWeb:www.npisorters.comEmail:[email protected]

nPi

www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com aAUGUST200947

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Neopost USA is the American operating company of Neopost Group, the world’s fastest-growing provider of mailing and shipping solutions. Leveraging unmatched industry exper-tise, we partner with our customers to help them achieve the absolute highest level of mailing operation efficiency. Utilizing innovative products and services, Neopost’s mail management strategies and best practices provide the value and peace of mind our cus-tomers deserve. Our objective is to bring simplicity and efficiency to the mailing process in order to make their businesses run more effectively.

Throughout its 80-year history, the Neopost Group has pioneered creative yet practical mailing solutions, including a number of “firsts” in advanced mail processing equipment. Today, Neopost USA offers a complete line of Neopost and Hasler-branded mailing, ship-ping and document handling products for offices and mail centers of all sizes.

In addition, Neopost offers a full range of document and mail management solutions designed to offer better control over your entire mailing operations through improved mailflow optimization. This includes increased efficiency, enhanced mailpiece security and integrity and reduced costs. These value-added mailing solutions have had a significant and very positive impact on every step of the mailflow process, with many Neopost cus-tomers having dramatically reduced their mailing and shipping costs.

The Neopost Group continues to strive for mail process innovation, with more than 300 people working on future generations of systems, software, infrastructures and networks linked to mail management. This combination of new product development, value-added services and a nationwide network of dealers and direct sales team confirms Neopost’s commitment to providing real mailing solutions and the highest level of customer service in the industry.

dennis lesTrange

PresidenT & ceO

neOPOsT478 Wheelers Farms RoadMilford CT 06461Phone: 800-995-2035Web: www.neopost.com

neOPOsT


Dennis LeStrange has guided and overseen the creation of Neopost USA out of several separate operating companies. The new organization continues to market its two flagship brands — Neopost and Hasler — through dealer and direct sales distribution channels. Under Mr. LeStrange’s leadership, the company has achieved profitable growth through continuous product innovation and process improvement, as well as through engaged employees who deliver a superior level of customer satisfaction. Dennis has extensive experience in the office equipment and copier industry. He was Regional Operations Manager for A-Copy in Boston before becoming its president and CEO. He was later appointed Senior Vice President, Corporate Officer of IKON North America, and in 2008, he was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Neopost USA. LeStrange has a BS in Accounting and Business Administration from Empire State College SUNY.

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JOhn Buck Vice PresidenT

With 25 years of corporate strategy and sales management experience, Mr. Buck has led new product development, created business venture opportunities and managed national sales teams. His expertise encompasses a variety of industries including: government, financial, retail, telecommunications and utilities. As vice president for business development at Parascript, Mr. Buck is responsible for augmenting business growth and leading new partner development efforts. Prior to joining Parascript, Mr. Buck served as senior vice president of sales and corporate relationships for a joint venture company in Canada established by US-based Fiserv. In this position, he was responsible for international strategic alliances and the integration of business process outsourcing solutions.

Mr. Buck earned his degree in Business Administration from California State University at Fullerton and has completed advanced programs in sales, management, marketing and business strategies.

ParascriPT6899 Winchester Circle, Suite 200Boulder CO 80301Phone: 303-381-3100Web: www.parascript.com

ParascriPTParascript image analysis and pattern recognition technology helps the world’s largest mail processing and package shippers deliver on time and to the right address. European posts, the U.S. Postal Service and major corporations throughout the world use Para-script recognition products to locate and recognize both handwritten and machine-print addresses in any type of mailstream, including: letters, flats, parcels, forwarded mail and bundles. Parascript software solutions process over 250 million documents daily and pro-vide annual cost savings of over $1 billion to Global 2000 companies as well as govern-ment agencies.

The Parascript product suite includes:AddressScript: A complete solution for automated address recognition available for Canada, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia and the United States, cross-validates data against postal databases, ensuring the highest accuracy and deliverabil-ity. AddressScript surpasses all other available OCR engines in read rates and accuracy, reads both handwritten and machine-print text as well as recognizes addresses across the entire mail stream, including letters, flats and parcels.

AddressParcel: AddressParcel recognizes destination addresses on parcels of all shapes, sizes and quality, allowing postal and shipping agencies to read greater volumes of parcels with the highest read rates and accuracy in the industry.

AddressSelect: A high-performance address validation engine reduces incorrect address entries and enables commercial shipping, mail firms and pre-sort vendors to assign 11-digit barcodes to mailpieces so postage discounts and compliance with USPS guide-lines are realized.

InMailRouter: Automates “reading” and sorting of incoming mail including letters, post-cards and flats, enabling companies of any size to significantly improve the bottom-line results by reducing labor costs while increasing sorting and delivery efficiencies.

AddressKey: A customizable and user-friendly Video Coding System (VCS) minimizes user keystrokes, increases keying speed and helps operators deliver more accurate results. AddressKey optimizes the manual validation of unrecognizable addresses and seamlessly integrates with majority of OCR/VCS systems.

StampVerify: Streamlines automatic indicia location and detection for envelope images including stamps, meter marks, facing identification marks, information based indicia or US postal stationery. StampVerify reduces operating costs and increases mail sorting efficiency by verifying that proper postage has been paid — and permits obtained — to allow items to enter the domestic mail delivery network.

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Randy hOefeR Vice PResidenT

ReseaRch & PROducT

sTRaTegy

saTORi sOfTwaRe, inc.1301 5th Ave, Suite 2200Seattle WA 98101Phone: 800-553-6477Web: www.satorisoftware.comEmail: [email protected]


Satori Software produces industry-leading address management solutions for organiza-tions that collect, maintain and mail to contact lists. In fulfilling our mission to deliver an exceptional user experience, our CASS and PAVE-certified products set new standards for ease-of-use and functionality. Our software removes the aggravation of deciphering complex postal regulations, so customers increase overall address quality, increase deliv-erability and achieve the best possible postage rates.

Bulk Mailer: Desktop Mailing Preparation Software. Bulk Mailer features address cor-rection and validation, postal presorting, de-duplication and Intelligent Mail barcode sup-port. Timesaving innovations include our intuitive graphical interface, reusable templates and Job Builder for automating repetitive tasks. Any organization that handles volume mailings — publishers, mailing houses, print shops, educational institutions — benefits from using Bulk Mailer.

MailRoom ToolKit: Integrated Address Management Solutions. MailRoom ToolKit products integrate address correction and presorting into databases, websites and other workflow applications. Point-of-entry address verification, batch address correction and regular change-of-address processing save time and maintain database integrity. Mail-Room ToolKit products also include postal presorts. Based on .NET and COM technol-ogy, MailRoom ToolKit products deliver more than address quality; they deliver tools that improve productivity, profitability and help create tighter customer relationships.

Built-in Move Update Service. Satori Software products feature our real-time* Move Update service. Once activated, customers may process address lists against the 48-month NCOALink dataset via a secure Internet connection anytime. There’s no waiting, no manual import/export and no messy data merge.

A wide range of companies — from three-person operations to Fortune 500 enterprises — already benefit from our products. Founded in 1982, Satori Software is privately owned and based in Seattle, Washington.

saTORi sOfTwaRe

Randy Hoefer has over 12 years of experience in the mailing industry. In his current role of Vice President Research and Product Strategy for Satori Software, Inc., Randy is responsible for ensuring that Satori Software products meet the needs of our current and future customers. In his former position of vice president of research and development, Randy led the development of the company’s address management solutions, including its bestselling Bulk Mailer series of products. Through his commitment to address quality and extensive knowledge of USPS rules, regulations and offerings, Satori Software delivers products that help mailers and direct marketers achieve better results from mailing programs and initiatives. Randy has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Western Washington University.

08 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2009 a www.MailingSystemsTechnology.com