™
Future of Mailing
An Industry Perspective
September 23, 2015
Agenda
Introduction
Current state of industry
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Current pain points
Future state of industry
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Expected gains
What is true scope of all these changes?
Q&A
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Mailing Industry’s Future Driven by Convergence
IMb full service adoption by mailing industry
USPS systems and software
USPS enterprise-wide technology deployment
USPS operations implementation of LEAN manufacturing and six sigma
USPS financial conditions
USPS service performance monitored by regulator
….and it’s future all powered by data
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Current State – Overview
State of transition from:
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Sample and paper based
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Non-intelligent mailing to intelligent
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Census-based data and system driven mailing environment
Mailers want mailing to remain affordable
Mailers want USPS delivery service to be predictable and consistent
Mailers focus on compliance to achieve above with mailings for their own businesses
Let’s examine current pieces of puzzle
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IMb and Full Service – Current State
Intelligent mail barcode (IMb) exists for:
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Pieces
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Handling units (e.g. trays)
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Containers (e.g. pallets)
Uniqueness of these codes for 45 days is assumed to power all current and future
innovation of which all are electronically documented
Uniqueness and barcode content enables special services (e.g. IMb Tracing, full service
ACS, secure destruction)
Both presence and absence of data within context and relationship to other known data
tells a story
Think expected vs. actual!
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Scorecard
Mailing evaluated electronically for data content, accuracy of information and compared
to expected standards for presort, labeling lists, postage rates, etc.
Through manual sampling or manually gathered data collection, weights, postage,
content checked against information and rates claimed in mailing as per eDoc
Through machine processing equipment (MPE) or census verification, every single
unique piece that gets scanned evaluated and compared to information presented by
mailer about each piece of mail in mailing as supplied in eDoc
This is game-changing!
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Mail Owner Scorecard: Electronic Verification
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Why Care about Your Scorecard?
Mail quality drives mail performance
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High quality mail drives efficient processing and timely delivery
Mail quality drives postage cost
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High quality mail means less upward price pressure on Postal Service
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High quality mail avoids additional postage assessment
What gets measured gets managed …
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… and improved!
How Is Mail Quality Assessment Changing?
Traditional model
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Physical mail presented to clerks
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In mail preparers plant (Detached Mail Unit)
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At USPS facility (Business Mail Entry Unit)
Clerks review mail (MERLIN)
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Physical characteristics
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Preparation
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Qualification for rate claimed
Quality is tracked on mailing-by-mailing basis
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Only sample of mail is reviewed
If issues identified at time of review
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Take mail back and correct
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Postage adjustment based on individual mailing
Full Service Error Thresholds
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How Is Mail Quality Assessment Changing?
Evolving model
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Electronic documentation (eDoc) provided to Postal Service
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Mail.dat or Mail.xml
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PostalOne! Interface
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Describes content and make-up of mail
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Processing scans of pieces, trays and pallets compared to eDoc
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Quality is tracked across calendar month for various metrics
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“Census” review
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Thresholds established for each metric
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If below threshold, no issue
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If above threshold, postage consequence
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What’s the Current Status?
All scorecards available to eDoc submitters
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Vigorous discussion between USPS and industry around data quality
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MTAC Task Team #23 (TT23) readiness for trend based verification
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TT23 reviewing USPS documentation
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TT23 providing input to USPS on readiness to begin mailer testing of scorecard and detailed
reporting (anticipated to begin testing in October for several months of validation testing)
Potential postage assessment for errors over threshold available to eDoc submitters for
review
Once reports are validated by industry and TT23, full-service error assessments could
become payable with notice in 2016
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Others are TBD
This will happen: no longer question of IF but WHEN
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What Does This Mean to Me as a Mail Owner?
Thresholds and postage consequences apply to eDoc submitters
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Usually mail service provider (MSP)
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Can be mail owners who produce own mail in-house
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No direct billing of most mail owners
Closer interaction with MSPs on quality issues
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What are business rules for engaging on quality issues?
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Who is responsible for mail supply chain?
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Should I expect bill from my MSP?
Does data or product you supply impact your MSPs thresholds?
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Move update
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Intelligent mail barcode serialization/uniqueness
Current State  Statistics
Full service intelligent mail introduced in May 2009
As of April 2015, 86.9% of all eligible full-service volume being prepared as full-service
Over 52.1% of drop-ship containers are using eInduction program as of April 2015
17.5% of total commercial volume is on seamless acceptance as of April 2015
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Mail Owner Scorecard: eDoc Submitter View
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Mail Owner Scorecard: Profile View
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Mail Quality Report (Mail Owner & Preparer)
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Informed Visibility
Current state: USPS operations
Latency – data produced but not available in useful reports for 24-48 hours and up to 2
weeks after events happened
Service performance diagnostics – looking at smaller samples and quantities of data as
system and infrastructure to handle size and scale of data was not there
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Very useful diagnostics
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BSN has access for last 21 days
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Still operating in siloes; operations is different than mail acceptance and payment
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Mail ops still operating currently on historical data vs. aggregation of all information and detail
contained in eDoc we all supply today
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Last scan in automation in DPS was last known sighting (i.e. IMb Tracing) of mailpiece prior to
carrier delivering to mail box
What is Being Done with the Data Now
Service performance measurement
Service performance diagnostics (SPD) (e.g. bundle breakage)
IMb Tracing with piece IMb
Start the clock with 99M container barcode scans
Handling unit scans on USPS automation
IMb planning tool
HQ monitoring of field on work in process (WIP) (e.g. elapsed time in hours from start the
clock to 1st automation scan)
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IMb Planning Tool
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Work In Process (WIP) Analytics
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Pieces of Current State Puzzle
Full service mailings
eDoc – Mail.dat
PostalOne!
eInduction
Seamless acceptance
USPS mail processing equipment
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What Will Accelerate the Future State?
MTAC Task Team #23 (TT23) and industry testing of scorecard reports completes
Moratorium on seamless acceptance gets lifted
Legacy systems in mailer and consolidator/transportation companies will have eInduction
become standard
Informed visibility near real time data for USPS ops and industry becomes reality in 2016
Mobile delivery device deployment for all letter carriers complete this fall enabling
GeoFencing via GPS
New rates, incentives, and regulations that encourage efficient, quality mail
USPS leveraging census data and IV for new costing system
Continued dialogue between USPS and industry to stimulate mail volume growth with
lowest combined costs
Good postal reform legislation passes
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New Opportunities Created
Improved service offerings with intelligent vs. non-intelligent mail inventory management
Near real time data can lead to new service products
Real time notification testing Nov. through Feb. 2016
Promotions and incentives that assume future state of robust reporting and scorecards
Better mail quality
More reliable and predictable mail communications channel to fully realize omni-channel
marketing
Less guessing and anecdotal information; everything is transparent and documented and
visible to all parties
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Visibility Innovation
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Benefits of Future Integrated Mailing and Data
Integrated mailing and data functionality potential:
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Data validation
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Standardized tools
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Automated verification process
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Quality control (job history, reporting, error logs)
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Easier and more automated processes for smarter mailing
Combined USPS/industry business benefits:
Quality
Issues
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Service and
Productivity
Operational Costs
Questions?
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Thank You!
Bob Rosser
Director Postal Affairs, Products & Services
O: 562.382.4725
bob.rosser@iwco.com
Please send me an email if you would like to participate in any MTAC User Group or
Workgroup discussing the future capabilities and how they are implemented. I will put you
in touch with the leadership of those groups.
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