In The Mail: May 2018 - What You Need to Know About Postal Issues

Getting “Informed.” The U.S. Postal Service stressed the value of its Informed Delivery (ID) and Informed Visibility (IV) at the 2018 National Postal Forum, May 6–9 in San Antonio, Tex. There are now about 10 million users of Informed Delivery, which emails customers scans of mail that will soon appear in their mailboxes, and the service is growing rapidly, with about 135,000 new users each week. According to the Postal Service, this technology enhances the value of mail by providing an opportunity for mailers to integrate online activity with hard-copy mail.

The Postal Service also outlined how the near real-time data provided by Informed Visibility is creating new opportunities to mix digital and hard copy data. The USPS had several sessions on IV and the power of the data now available, how customers can and should use the data, and how the Postal Service is using it internally to track mail both within its facilities and on trucks moving from facility to facility.

Other sessions covered Green and Secure and new steps in address cleansing, as well as the new Enterprise Payment System. Over the next year, companies that pay postage are going to need to migrate from the legacy CAPS system to Enterprise Payment.

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About Idealliance

Idealliance, a global think tank, is a non-profit graphic communications industry organization with 12 strategically located offices around the world. Idealliance serves brands, OEMs, service providers in print and packaging, content & media creators, creative agencies/design teams, material suppliers, and innovators & developers worldwide. We do our work through ISO Standards Innovation, Print and Digital Workflows & Technologies Development & Integration, Technical Research, Certification, Training, Brand & Facility Auditing Programs and serves as a Global Super Connector for brands, service providers, & OEMs throughout the world. Our specifications have transformed the graphic communications industry by defining production workflows for color (GRACoL, SWOP, XCMYK™, G7, and BrandQ®). Idealliance is the world’s foremost certifying body for competencies, systems, materials and facilities, and Idealliance, a Liaison ‘A’ to ISO TC130, is one of the world’s largest contributors and developers of ISO standards.

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