Tag: Mail Services

AOL launches paperless coupons service

AOL wants you to stop clipping coupons or even printing them out. The company is launching a new service, Shortcuts, for manufacturers to distribute coupons on the Internet.

Instead of clipping them out of your newspaper insert, you can simply choose the ones you want online and add them to an account tied to a grocery store’s loyalty program. To redeem those coupons, you simply present your loyalty card at the register.

The program is free for consumers and retail chains, while manufacturers pay to have their coupons listed. Charges will be based on how many get selected and redeemed.

Manufacturers can also buy banner ads to accompany the coupon listings at Shortcuts.com.

The new service, the latest aimed at distributing paperless coupons online or by cell phones, comes as Time Warner Inc.’s AOL continues trying to boost advertising revenue to offset steep declines in subscriptions for dial-up Internet access.

Although AOL expects manufacturers to continue distributing coupons in print publications, Shortcuts director Sharon Baker said companies could eventually offer exclusive deals online.

That could leave out people with little or no Internet access, who often are poorer and the ones who most need such discounts. But Baker said that, because it will be free to consumers, Shortcuts actually will break down barriers — no longer would you need to buy a newspaper for the savings.

Shortcuts was scheduled to launch Thursday with the Kroger Co. grocery store chain and one food manufacturer, General Mills Inc.

Coupons from Kimberly-Clark Corp. and Kraft Foods Inc. are to come later this month.

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Australia Post choose AVI to upgrade its address recognition and mail automation capabilities

AddressVision Inc. (AVI), a Bull Group subsidiary and a leading provider of postal automation solutions, has announced that Australia Post has chosen AVI to upgrade its address recognition and mail automation capabilities for processing the country’s letter mail. As the chosen prime systems integrator, AVI leads a world-class team which includes Prime Vision B.V., RAF Technology, Inc. and LSI.

AVI’s solution is based on independent functional modules delivered within an industry supported, open architecture framework. AVI will integrate its solution with more than 50 legacy mail processing machines, in 11 processing centers nationwide, to modernize and extend automation capabilities across the country, extending the lifetime of existing equipment. AVI’s solution also expands Australia Post’s available recognition capabilities by at least 10%, through the addition of name and firm based matching, and by providing dynamic updates and corrections to postal address data via AVI’s Address Learning component.

AddressVision Inc., a Groupe Bull Company, provides software solutions to help organizations more accurately and efficiently organize, process, and deliver mail, whereby increased mail-piece effectiveness, and decreased processing times and costs are achieved.

Prime Vision is a leading supplier of mail and parcel automation solutions. Prime Vision’s parcel automation identification solutions suite, Parcel Vision, incorporates our unique OCR recognition technologies for handwritten and machine generated text and is fast becoming the de-facto high-performance standard in the global express-parcel market.

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Royal Mail's Special Delivery Next Day service – Postcomm's decision

In January 2008, Royal Mail made an application to Postcomm to limit the compensation available with the Special Delivery Next Day service, and included with that application a statement of agreement from Postwatch.

The document published today – Royal Mail’s proposed changes to its Special Delivery Next Day service. Postcomm’s decision (pdf, 77KB) – closes the consultation that Postcomm undertook in 2006 and sets out the regulator’s decision on Royal Mail’s 2008 application

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Connect with friends and loved ones through the US Mail for free

A card in the mail is like an unexpected visit from a friend, a way to connect with absent loved ones that stands out among the digital clutter of voicemails and emails. Thanks to the United States Postal Service and HBO, Americans can rekindle the power of the written word with a greeting card to send a heartfelt, handwritten message to someone special — free of charge.

For National Card and Letter Writing Month, the Postal Service is encouraging Americans to log onto poweroftheletter.com and order a greeting card. The card will be sent with a stamped envelope enclosed. Both the card and the stamped envelope are sent at no cost. Drop the mobile phone and PDA for just a minute and pick up a pen instead of sending an email or text message. The message you send via the US Mail can be saved for years or even centuries and not deleted with a simple keystroke.

“Letters and cards are personal, you can hold them, you can read them over and over again, and keep them forever — these are things that email and text messaging cannot replace,” said Anita Bizzotto, chief marketing officer for the Postal Service. “National Card and Letter Writing Month pays tribute to the power of the written word and promotes the emotional and historical value of the mail.”

The Postal Service and HBO created the “Power of the Letter” campaign to promote handwritten correspondence, educate all on the historical significance of this type of communication, and reintroduce John Adams, one of our founding fathers who was a prolific writer. He and his wife Abigail exchanged over 1,100 letters during the course of their courtship and marriage. The letters, held by the Massachusetts Historical Society, were a crucial resource for historian David McCullough, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning biography John Adams is the foundation for the HBO miniseries of the same name premiering on March 16.

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