USPS posted its proposed rule for ending the POSTNET barcode today. Note this won’t be set in stone until after the comment period, so there’s time to have your voice heard if you’d like to continue using POSTNET. The details are listed on the main Federal Register web site and will be posted to the USPS site soon. Send any comments to MailingStandards@usps.gov and make sure you include “POSTNET discontinuation” in the subject line. Or call 1-202-268-2906, or send a letter to L’Enfant Plaza. Send your comments by April 2 to get them considered.

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Last week representatives from the mailing industry met with USPS in Washington DC. Here’s a quick recap of some of the topics discussed:

• The biggest announcement, in my opinion, was they finally announced the end of POSTNET! Starting January 2013, an Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) will be required to get automation discounts. They’ve pushed this back many times before, but I think they really mean it this time.
• And second biggest was their announcement that Full-Service IMb will be required for Automation discounts in January 2014. While they were pretty confident about this date, I don’t think they’ve thought this all the way through, and this date is likely to slip. But that doesn’t mean mailers shouldn’t get started on this now. The goal is to have 100% of automation mail tracked using IMb by 2014.
• “Did you hear the one about the unstamped letter? You wouldn’t get it.” — CFO Joe Corbett, budding comedian
• The mobile barcode incentive will be back this summer. First-Class and Standard mailers who include an approved mobile barcode on their pieces will get a 2% discount on their mail. To learn more about this incentive, including the new requirements for where the barcode goes, see the documentation on RIBBS.
• Postmaster General Pat Donahoe laid out his new business plan for USPS. In order to get out of the financial hole they’re in, USPS wants to:
  • Pull out of the government healthcare system and self-insure.
  • Re-align the postal network, including several thousand office closures, along with closing over half the sorting facilities. This could also include eliminating Saturday delivery, pending Congressional action. For a complete list of facilities they want to close, see the network realignment page. Mailers should still be able to drop their mail at their existing centers and still get the SCF discounts.
  • Encourage more employees to retire (almost half of the staff is currently eligible to retire).
  • Increase the cost of a First-Class stamp to $0.50.
  • Eliminate retirement pre-funding (this would also require Congressional action).
  • All together this could save USPS $20 billion by 2016, which would ensure they stay in the black.
• Donahoe said “We have to act on this now. Putting a couple of pieces together and holding your breath is not the solution. We will be in an untenable position in five to six years. It is hard to get the message across. Everyone can’t have their cake and eat it too. When you look at our outlook and do nothing, we look like Greece.” And it’s interesting to note, Congress doesn’t seem as ready to assist USPS as the EU has been ready to bail out Greece.
• The PMG also noted that his big dream is to have all “large” mailers using “seamless acceptance”. Basically seamless acceptance is Full-Service IMb on steroids – the USPS will just take their mail, then bill them the rates later. This assumes that those large mailers are preparing easy-to-process mail, and that the USPS will bill them accordingly. For “smaller” mailers, he envisions them dropping their mail off at their local post office window, not the current Business Mail Entry Unit (BMEU). They didn’t define what makes a mailer “large” or “small”.
• Productivity is up, but they can only cut so much. USPS will pay their employees first, suppliers second, but won’t be able to make the $11 billion payment to the government for health pre-funding this year.
• At some point they want to move to a single account/single permit world, rather than have each company register a permit at every drop location. But this system hasn’t been built yet, and won’t be until 2013 at the earliest.
• The MTAC meetings are getting restructured this year to encourage more participation and communication. This means I’ll be a little busier at the next MTAC.

So big changes are afoot! We should hear a lot more about the IMb changes between now and NPF.

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Last week at MTAC, USPS announced the official “retirement” date for the POSTNET barcode. Starting January 2013, POSTNET will no longer qualify mailers for automation discounts. If you haven’t made the transition to IMb yet, check out the Intelligent Mail resources on our website to learn more.

Stay tuned for a recap of MTAC coming soon.

barcodes · direct mail · Intelligent Mail · mail piece design · mail preparation · mailing software · MTAC · POSTNET · prices · USPS