InfoPrint enables transactional mailers to implement USPS Intelligent Mail Barcode (U.S)

InfoPrint Solutions Company, a joint venture between IBM and Ricoh announced a new solution that will enable large mailers to continue to receive postal discounts on automated mailings by replacing current Postnet barcodes with the new Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB). This is a mailing solution that allows transactional mailers to make these barcode replacements without changing their base applications or over spraying finished envelopes to continue to benefit from the automated discounts from the United States Postal Service (USPS).

IMB is being introduced to improve mail tracking and give mailers continuous updates on the location and status of each mailpiece. This tracking system not only applies during the delivery process to the customer, but also responds with initial entry data if a return service is requested.

Large mailers, including financial, healthcare, telecommunications and insurance companies, currently receive a discount on each automated mailpiece sent ranging from USD 0.03 to USD 0.23. Without upgrading to support IMB by the time specified by the USPS, these companies will no longer be eligible to receive their postage discounts, which could exceed USD 1M per month for many large companies. The date currently proposed for the upgrade to IMB to be implemented is May 2009, concurrent with the next annual USPS price change. This will include separate prices for the full-service and basic option and the Postnet Barcode will remain eligible for an automation price until May 2010.

InfoPrint Solutions Company, a joint venture between IBM and Ricoh announced a new solution that will enable large mailers to continue to receive postal discounts on automated mailings by replacing current Postnet barcodes with the new Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB). This is a mailing solution that allows transactional mailers to make these barcode replacements without changing their base applications or over spraying finished envelopes to continue to benefit from the automated discounts from the United States Postal Service (USPS).

IMB is being introduced to improve mail tracking and give mailers continuous updates on the location and status of each mailpiece. This tracking system not only applies during the delivery process to the customer, but also responds with initial entry data if a return service is requested.

Large mailers, including financial, healthcare, telecommunications and insurance companies, currently receive a discount on each automated mailpiece sent ranging from USD 0.03 to USD 0.23. Without upgrading to support IMB by the time specified by the USPS, these companies will no longer be eligible to receive their postage discounts, which could exceed USD 1M per month for many large companies. The date currently proposed for the upgrade to IMB to be implemented is May 2009, concurrent with the next annual USPS price change. This will include separate prices for the full-service and basic option and the Postnet Barcode will remain eligible for an automation price until May 2010.

InfoPrint’s IMB offering allows current and new customers to insert a Utility software module into their existing AFP print-preparation job stream, which can be operating under either z/OS-MVS, AIX or Windows platforms. Current applications used by large transactional mailers do not have to change as InfoPrint provides one, centralized capability to enable IMB printing.

“As postal rates continue to increase, the size of each document decreases and the content included becomes more valuable,” said Humberto Prospero, Director of TransPromo Solutions for InfoPrint. “Many of our customers distribute more than one billion mailpieces annually, and postal discounts are key to their bottom line. InfoPrint’s IMB offering is an extremely valuable tool to enable customers to begin tracking the ROI produced from each piece of mail that is issued.”