Meet USPS Full Service IMb(R) Requirements whilte achieving a digital workflow

This large financial institution needed to reduce postage and operational costs while also meeting the new United States Postal Service Full Service IMb® requirements.

Challenge
This organization's print and mail production processes were based on technologies that have been readily available for many years, such as black and white printing on preprinted color forms and file based mail finishing. They wanted to take a fresh look at their operations in light of today's technologies and demands, such as cost effective digital color printing, consumer channel preference, and the emergence of Big Data and the ability to personalize.

Working with Pitney Bowes they found the following gaps in their existing procedures:
  • They were not taking full advantage of their print and mail volumes to achieve the best postal rates available
  • They needed to meet the upcoming USPS requirement for Full Service IMb®
  • They were not able to accurately chargeback postage to internal departments
Solution
Leveraging Pitney Bowes capabilities this organization now enjoys a completely digital workflow. They moved from a pre-printed forms environment by electronically merging forms data with individual statement data and then printing in full digital color. Once the statements were freed from relying on a particular paper stock or form, they were able to consolidate all print jobs into a single job, and then presort via software to achieve the maximum possible postal densities. They utilized Pitney Bowes mailware products to meet USPS requirements for each address, including Move Update and Full Service IMb unique piece assignment and barcodes. To complete the process they are also able to create Full Service manifests, tray tags and pallet placards, as well as electronic postal documentation and submission to the USPS PostalOne! gateway using our new DFWorks® Full Service IMb Postal Manifesting Software.

The new digital workflow allows the company to realize cost savings by significantly streamlining their operations. They now print and finish large jobs only instead of multiple smaller jobs. They have eliminated the physical step of sorting, including the associated hardware and labor costs. The Full Service IMb manifest software allows them to create a single submission to the USPS containing any completed trays from multiple presorted jobs, including on-the-fly pallet and tag creation based on completed trays. Electronic documentation required for Full Service submission is automatically updated based on mailpiece processing results. And since the entire process is fully tracked, they are able to provide accurate chargeback reports for their internal stakeholders due to tight integration with their postage accounting system.

Benefits
  • Meet USPS Full Service IMb requirements
  • Reduced overall costs due to larger print and mail finishing runs
  • Reduced overall postage, and paying actual posted needed due to dynamic manifest updates based on actual production data
  • Ability to easily respond to changes in the production environment
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