May 20, 2002 -- Impoze (www.Impoze.com) has become the first and only commercially available publication and print-planning software certified by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) for the agency's newly released Periodical Accuracy, Grading and Evaluation (PAGE) program. As such, the USPS will accept mailing calculations - i.e., ad percentages and piece weights - automatically generated by Impoze. "Now, publishers are forever freed from the hassles of submitting marked-up copies to the USPS with the percentage of advertising for every edition of every issue," said Jeff Parnau, creator of Impoze software and chief executive officer of Impoze Systems, a wholly owned affiliate company of Quad/Graphics. Furthermore, the USPS is liberated from the time-intensive process of determining per-copy weights, which traditionally has been done by weighing 10 copies of each edition at the time of mailing - "a manual process requiring massive storage space for all the versions that need to be weighed and held for possible verification," Jeff said. Now, publishers participating in the Rates and Classification Service Center authorization process may pay postage based on Impoze's virtual copy-weight calculations. For the past five-plus years, Impoze Systems and Quad/Graphics have been working closely with the USPS and major publishers across the country to help define and promote the PAGE program. As a result, Impoze is the only PAGE-certified program. "We're the only guys that know how to do this," Jeff said. "The software understands postal regulations. Publishers and the Postal Service both stand to benefit from PAGE, saving time and money, not to mention valuable storage space," he added. "We have been working diligently on behalf of our clients to make electronic calculation of ad percentages and virtual copy weights a reality," said Ron Nash, Quad/Graphics Vice President of Customer Service. "Once again, through Impoze, Quad/Graphics demonstrates its industry-leading commitment to streamlining and expediting the print-production process, including the all-important process of mailing." Getting on the PAGE Many Impoze users are already familiar with the software's mailing calculation features, as the features have been a part of the software program since 1992. PAGE program qualifications require 100 percent accuracy of advertising and copy weight calculations in addition to current DMM mailing standards. Impoze creates mailing list instructions for a publisher's list house, and coordinates the final mailing list for binding and distribution, including any information included in a mail.dat file. (Mail.dat files are an optional list-house output and comprise all the necessary information used for client mailings, such as number of pieces and number of pallets.) All this information drives the creation of a certified mailing statement. In order to participate in PAGE, publishers must complete separate certification and authorization processes. For certification ($25 fee per user per company), a publishers' user(s) must demonstrate competent use of Impoze as well as exhibit a general knowledge of periodicals mailing. Quad/Graphics clients are advised to contact the USPS' PAGE department at 1-800-238-3150, ext. 4632, for more information on certification. Once individual users are certified, the publisher can apply for authorization by calling Chuck Tricamo at the New York Rates and Classification Service Center at 212-613-8754. Additional information is available on the Rapid Information Bulletin Board System (RIBBS) at http://ribbs.usps.gov. Select the "PAGE" link in the left-hand navigation bar. For more information about Impoze, log on to www.Impoze.com or contact Jeff Parnau, creator of Impoze, at 262-363-4752 or [email protected].