Did you know that you need to pass a test in order to take advantage of the Intelligent Mail Full Service benefits which will be available effective November 29?
The United States Postal Service® requires mailers claiming Intelligent Mail rates must be authorized to do so, and the only way to do that is to go through a testing process. The tests involve submitting Mail.dat files and electronic documents in a testing environment called ‘Test Environment for Mailers’ (TEM). This test environment uses the same software that is used by the USPS for production on PostalOne! and imitates what will occur during live production environment.
If you have not already begun your testing process, it is strongly recommend that you to do so as soon as possible. Even if your mailing operation is not completely ready to implement Intelligent Mail, this testing process can take time, so it is wise to begin the process early. The testing process can also help pinpoint issues in your mailing process that need to be addressed before going live with Intelligent Mail in production, so it is beneficial in a number of ways.
Before getting started with the testing process, mailers must obtain a Mailer Identification (MID) number and Customer Registration Identification (CRID) number. MID is used by the Postal Service to identify the mail owners and /or mailing agents. CRID uniquely identifies a USPS customer at a business location address. For example, if your company has three different mailing facilities, you would have a single MID to identify your company and three CRIDs to identify each of the three mailing facilities.
In order to apply for these IDs and to start the TEM process, mailers will need to log on to the ‘Business Customer Gateway’ via USPS website. It is helpful before you begin any of these processes to review the numerous guides and resources that are available from the USPS on their ‘Rapid Information Bulletin Board Site’ (RIBBS). Reading through these guides and checklists may seem tedious, but it will actually help save you time as you go through the Intelligent Mail integration processes.
Visit http://www.windowbook.com/IntelligentMail for more information on Intelligent Mail.
Mail.dat® or Mail.XML™? Why Not Both!
Which file format should I choose? The answer is really quite simple. Both!
Three Reasons Why You Should Use Mail.dat®
Mail.dat is one of the database file sets that is accepted by the USPS for exchanging electronic mailing information. The information in Mail.dat files is extremely useful in mail verification and acceptance, electronic data storage, transportation planning, and postal document preparation and reporting.
Mail.dat® File Validation: How to Make Sure Your Files are Valid
Good post-presort software will import the files and provide detailed reports of any errors detected. Post-presort software should also allow you to easily locate these errors in the Mail.dat files to make corrections without having to regenerate them.
