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Contact Information: Window Book, Inc. 300 Franklin Street Cambridge, MA 02139-3781 Ph: 800-524-0380 Fax: 617-395-5900 [email protected] www.WindowBook.com
Some of the Things I Love .................
Latest Software Removes Extra Work.
Window Book Family Album .............
Ask the Postal Specialists....................
Fun Activities Before Labor Day.........
USPS Promotions for 2015….…….....
USPS Fascinating Facts...……….…...
What’s Shipping with PPP?………….
Guide to Postage Assessments..……...
Window Book Software Update..........
Postal Palate………………..…….…..
B2B Sales Growth...............................
On the Lighter Side..............................
Preparing Pallets for Full-Service……
Reader’s Spotlight................................
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Volume 3 Issue 8 IN THIS ISSUE Supporting our Clients’ Prosperity since 1988
To unsubscribe: send us an email at [email protected] with “Unsubscribe Newsletter” in the subject line.
Some of the Things I Love
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Latest Software Removes Extra Work Associated with Full-Service Intelligent Mail®
Back in late 2013, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) ruled that the proposed Full-Service mandate constituted a rate increase of about 4% based on the extra work most mailers had to do to comply with the requirements. This was not far off in terms of what costs smaller and mid-size mailers were facing at that time. In the six years since Full-Service Intelligent Mail® was intro-duced, software vendors have continued to make it easier to comply with Full-Service requirements. Most presort programs can now automatically assign unique piece, tray and container barcode numbers. (cont. on page 2)
Freedom, More Freedom. Last month I wrote that I love freedom and creating more freedom for our clients. I wrote that it’s at the root of America and that the way we create freedom at Window Book is by increasing productivity by automating job functions that can be done by software and machines.
I did get some comments that automation will eliminate jobs and increase unemployment. That is not what I see from the 27+ years we have been doing this type of work at Window Book. When we automate a task like finding, downloading, renaming and categorizing PostalOne!® documents, we find that the person that was doing those tasks often 1) Now has a lot of time to do other work 2) They usually do not get fired because at most businesses there is typically no shortage of work at the end of the day 3) They often are assigned additional job functions that can’t be automated now and get paid better for (cont. pg. 2)
August 2015 Edition “Thinking Outside of the Mailbox” is published monthly by Window Book, Inc. for the Postal Industry.
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Latest Software Removes Extra Work Associated with Full-Service Intelligent Mail® (cont. from page 1) Most will make it easy to store and use by/for information required in most Mail.dat® files. As a result, most mailers need to do very little additional work to presort to print a Full Service job. The extra work comes next: post-presort editing and interacting with PostalOne! ® Some mailers will need to make changes to their Mail.dat files, and in the past you had to wait for jobs to be imported into a post-presort product - then have to know something about Mail.dat to make your changes. Next, to have your mail accepted, you had to validate and upload the Mail.dat files to PostalOne! making sure the files were successfully processed. Last, after your mail was accepted you would have to go back to the PostalOne! dashboard and download the finalized statements for your accounting department or your clients. This can be a lot of extra work and it may require expertise your company does not have in abundance. Thankfully Window Book software has been reducing the amount of labor required to make post-presort changes to Mail.dat files and interact with PostalOne!.
To simplify post-presort Mail.dat changes, Window Book has released its Advanced Workflow Automation Manager™ for its DAT-MAIL post-presort editing software. It can hunt down new Mail.dat files on your network and quickly import them on your server. DAT-MAIL’s “Navigator” and “advanced Navigator” user interface allow users to make the most common changes without any knowledge of the Mail.dat specification. (cont. on page 5)
Subscribe to “Thinking Outside the Mailbox” Email: PostalSpecialist @WindowBook.com with “Subscribe to Newsletter” in the subject line to be added to the mailing list. Please make sure to provide a complete email address.
Newsletter Archives: www.WindowBook.com/OutsideTheMailBox
Some of the Things I Love (cont. from page 1)
doing it 4) They spend more of their time doing higher value work and 5) The company becomes more profitable.
The way I see it, the more we can create ways for software and machines to automate and replace tasks that have historically required people to spend their valuable time doing, the more freedom those people will have to be engaged in more productive activities to make themselves and their companies more profitable. The more they can do higher level work like working with other people, servicing other people, and knowledge work the better.
Trying to stop this natural process, like the Luddites tried to years ago is a waste of time. More freedom is at the core of automating systems and what we're doing for our clients at Window Book. To get that freedom we increase productivity. With more productivity you have the time and money freedom to pursue higher and greater goals, and that is something I love.
Window Book has been investing heavily in systems like PostalWeb®, AWAM, DAT-MAIL Navigator, CoPal and many other solutions to increase user’s and companies’ productivity. Get more freedom by looking at the mail processes you are doing and contact us to help
you automate them. If you are using PostalOne!, automate it with PostalWeb. If you are editing Mail.dat® files, automate it with AWAM and DAT-MAIL. - Jeff Peoples, CEO & Founder, Window Book, Inc.
Client Testimonial
Thank you Window Book!
“We use Window Book DAT-MAIL to import & further process our Mail.dat® files that are created by our presort software. DAT-MAIL has worked very well for us since 2006 and the support staff is excellent!” Jeff Golderer IT Director Direct Mail Depot Inc. www.directmaildepot.com
Don't allow the destruction of automation.
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Postal Trivia How much do you know?
1. ZIP codes were put in place to help deliver mail. In what year was the system created?
A. 1933 B. 1963 C. 1903 D. 1873
2. In which year was flying the
U.S. mail established? A. 1902 B. 1888 C. 1918 D. 1930
3. Which actor’s grandfather
flew the U.S. Air Mail as a contractor in 1926? A. Jim Varney B. Jack Nicholson C. Jim Backus D. Leslie Nielson
4. Which of the following was
a U.S. Air Mail flyer? A. Jim Thorpe B. Waldo Pepper C. Charles Lindbergh D. Howard Hughes
5. Which singer, who also
appears in Death Cab for Cutie, is a member of the Postal Service? A. Chris Walla B. Jenny Lewis C. Ben Gibbard D. Jimmy Tamborello
6. Whose letter was the first
letter delivered by air?
A. Babe Ruth B. Woodrow Wilson C. John Dillinger D. Paul Getty
Answers on Page 7.
Family Album This section is all about our staff who stay very busy behind the scenes to keep everything running smoothly.
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Window Book’s
My Latest Do It Yourself (DIY) Project
Set You Free - prayer gathering My church in Quincy, MA used to have monthly prayer gatherings. Think India mixed with Congregational chapel and MS Office. The Indian women often wear colorful and elaborately decorated clothing. The services had roughly one or two dozen people from diverse countries – India, Italy, Kenya, China, and of course, America. That’s me (see picture on right), I’m the one in the center— one of the local Quincy residents. My role at the church started when an Indian couple, both with advanced education, wanted someone in charge of displaying their Power-Point presentations and multimedia. I’m usually easy to find— just look for the church’s computer and I’m often near it. I also create computer animations for the church using Blender software.
Monica Lundquist Postal Affairs & Technical Support Manager, Window Book
Erik Mattson Information Systems Programmer Window Book Inc.
Get a whiskey barrel planter placed on a wheeled planter caddy. Put an umbrella stand in the bottom of the planter, fill it up with potting soil and plants, and then put the umbrella in. Voila! Now I have a portable patio umbrella that I can easily move around, and it looks nice too! And my pets won’t get a sun burn while snoozing on the lounger.
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Q: Can you tell me how I can get help with better understanding my Mailer Scorecard?
A: The Mailer Scorecard includes a “drill down” function that allows users to drill down to the specific mailing
jobs with errors and then to the specific errors. The Mailer Scorecard will provide error codes and a recommended solution. The error codes can also be looked up in the PostalOne! technical guides. If you need help analyzing your Scorecard, call us at 1-800-524-0380 or email [email protected] and request “Professional Service.” We can help review your Scorecard so you can avoid getting an invoice for Full-Service errors. Q: Where can I find more information about the USPS facility consolidation and closures?
A: The USPS provides detailed information regarding the planned facility consolidations and closures on a special Our Future Network web page. ((http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/our-future-network/welcome.htm)
Included on that page is a link to the Phase 2 FAQ’s. Their Mail Move Plan is available in Excel spread-sheet format, and will be updated on a weekly basis. The USPS also provides information on these planned consolidations on its main web site and on the RIBBS web site.
Q: Does Window Book offer on-site training in addition to online assistance to help their clients?
A: Yes! We’ve had so many clients who have benefitted from on-site visits. With on-site training, you can include more people in training to ensure thorough implementation; plus, by being physically present we often uncover otherwise unseen challenges in your work flow processes. Perhaps you need help solving problems that may be specific to your operation or you could benefit from custom reporting, better integration of our products into your daily operations or your very own Standard Operational Procedures document (SOP). Please contact [email protected] to get details and a custom quote for our on-site training and consulting services.
Q: How can I find my local Business Mail Entry (BME) Manager?
A: Visit this page at: www.usps.com/nationalpremieraccounts/findlocators.htm
Q: Does Window Book software support IMpb?
A: Yes we do! Our Postal Package Partner shipping software is USPS MAC certified for IMpb. It can import Shipping Services Files (SSF) created by your presort software or special files created by DAT-MAIL, print labels, submit files to PTR, collect extract files, provide tracking reports and do e-mail notification. We also offer a service called IMpb On-Ramp Service to help shippers get certified for IMpb. We will walk you through the onboarding process, answer any questions you have, make sure you have everything you need to meet the new requirements and assist you with certification of one PTS file and one printer. AND, you do not have to already be using any Window Book product. You can also use our DAT-MAIL post-presort software to extract the data needed to create a Shipping Services File and provide it to Postal Package Partner. If you need assistance with IMpb, please contact us at 800-524-0380 or email [email protected]. Q: Does DAT-MAIL support participation in the USPS eInduction program?
A: DAT-MAIL fully supports eInduction. Participation in eInduction requires that mailers submit an email to the eInduction mail box ([email protected]). Once approved, their Mailer CRID will be added to the eInduction list and then eInduction training for the Origin BMEU/DMU PVDS must be completed. Q: What happens during Seamless Parallel? A: During Seamless Parallel, there will be no changes to current acceptance and verification processes. Mailings will continue to be accepted without interruption while Seamless monitoring and reporting features are activated. This ensures that your eDoc and mail quality is maintained while allowing you to become familiar with the Seamless verification process and prepare you for a successful transition.
Ask the Postal Specialists!
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Latest Software Removes Extra Work Associated with Full-Service Intelligent Mail® (cont. from page 2) Window Book also has two offerings which together can completely automate a mailer’s interaction with PostalOne!®. Both can be used by any mailer that submits Mail.dat® whether they have a post-presort editor (DAT-MAIL) or not. eDM10X™ automates file uploads to PostalOne! and can provide e-mail and mobile phone text message notifications of each PostalOne! event. No more having to look at the MDX/MDR Client dashboard to see if your Mail.dat files made it! PostalWeb® is a mobile friendly web site that allows eDM10x users to automatically receive their PostalOne! documents via e-mail or secure file download right to their network. No more searching for and downloading postage statements or confirmation pages! Mailers can also subscribe to receiving XML files with all of the postage information that was in their PostalOne! statements for accounting or jobshop/business management systems. The result of all of this automation is not just a time and cost savings, but it opens these job functions to less skilled and less expensive employees. Some mailers are now using this automation to take one more step, so they can improve operational efficiency to the point where it actually costs LESS to handle a Full-Service mailing than it did before Full-Service. For example, some eDM10X users create e-mail notifications for their Detached Mail Units of new statements in PostalOne!. When a mail clerk gets one of these e-mails, they begin the verification process. Another e-mail signals the mailer’s logistics department to load their trailers when a statement is finalized. Automating these hand-offs saves time and money. Simpler, more reliable business processes often have a value that transcends their hard-dollar savings. Window Book is quickly transforming Full-Service Intelligent Mail from a cost center to a cost-savings center. As adoption of these innovations increase, the extra cost of Full-Service will drop making it easier for the USPS® to impose its mandate.
SIX Fun activities you can enjoy BEFORE Labor Day!
eDM10X™ and PostalWeb®
Automate Mail.dat® submissions AND retrieval of finalized statements from PostalOne!
Stop wasting time using the PostalOne! MDX/MDR Client & downloading documents from the PostalOne! dashboard!
Learn more about PostalWeb.Net: Call 800-524-0380 or
email [email protected]
Go camping, kayaking or canoeing
Eat a whole lobster with your hands
Build a sandcastle at the beach
Take a nap in a hammock
Collect seashells and watch the sunset
Visit a farm to pick berries and flowers
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USPS Fascinating Facts Statistics Sometimes the numbers really tell the tale, and that is certainly true with the USPS. Here are some interesting stats from just ONE day in the life of the USPS: Revenue received: $223.7 million Mailpieces processed and delivered: 512.8 million Number of address changes: 113,531 Number of addresses added to the delivery network:
3,206 Number of letter carriers who deliver mail entirely on
foot: 7,000 Size and Scope The USPS delivers more mail to more addresses in a larger geographical area than any other post in the world. The USPS handles forty percent (40%) of the world’s mail volume. To further testify to the huge scope of the USPS, check out these statistics: 2014 FY revenue: $67.8 billion Annual mailpieces processed and delivered: 155.4
billion Number of career employees: 486,822 Number of non-career employees: 130,432 Number of USPS-managed retail post offices: 31,662 Number of vehicles: 211,264 (one of the largest
civilian fleets in the world) Number of delivery points nationwide: 153.9 million The USPS is the core of the mailing industry, which is a $1.3 trillion industry that employs more than 8 million people. Little-known facts The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is one of the nation’s oldest federal law enforcement agencies. The agency reported approximately 6,000 arrests and 5,300 convictions in 2014 related to criminal, security and prevention investigations of postal crime. Investigations include crimes such as mail scams, illegal narcotics, counterfeit money orders, fraudulent lottery mailings, tax fraud in the mail, suspicious/hazardous items in the mail, and others. The USPS maintains a communications network that includes more than 145,000 desktop computers, 23,000 notebook computers, 81,000 printers, 12,500 smart-phones,...Read more: windowbook.com/Etips
USPS Promotion Programs for 2015 The United States Postal Service® (USPS®) is again offering a number of promotional programs aimed at increasing mail volumes by offering incentives to mailers. Starting with the first Mobile Barcode incentive back in 2011, the USPS continues to put incentive programs in place for mailers to take advantage of postage discounts or rebates for submitting mailings that meet the promotion requirements. There are three promotions currently in effect for the calendar year 2015: Color Transpromo Promotion, Emerging and Advanced Technology Promotion, and Mail Drives Mobile Engagement Promotion. The Promotions The Color Transpromo Promotion: The registration period for this program began on April 15, 2015 and runs through November 30, 2015. This promotion is only available for First-Class Mail. The promotion period itself just started on June 1, 2015 and runs through November 30, 2015. The Emerging and Advanced Technology Promotion: The registration period for this program began on March 15, 2015 and runs through November 30, 2015. This promotion is available for both First-Class Mail and Standard Mail®. The promotion period started on June 1, 2015 and runs through November 30, 2015. The Mail Drives Mobile Engagement Promotion: The registration period for this program began on May 15, 2015 and runs through December 31, 2015. This promotion is available only for Standard Mail. The promotion period itself started on July 1, 2015 and runs through December 31, 2015. Eligibility As described above, these promotions are available for either First-Class Mail or Standard Mail, or in the case of the Emerging and Advanced Technology Promotion, both classes of mail. Each promotion has its own set of eligibility requirements, including mailpiece content requirements, registration requirements, mailing submission requirements and requirements at mail acceptance and after the mailing is complete. Read more: windowbook.com/Etips
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What’s Shipping with Postal Package Partner (PPP)? The shipping side of the USPS is a fast moving world to work in – and I (usually) like it that way. Here's what has been going on in just the last 60 days: MAC and MAC Gold testing started up
The on-again, off-again rate and statement paperwork changes for May 31
Many dozens of service type code combination changes due to a substantial reorganization of extra services, particularly those related to signature confirmation, restricted delivery and adult signature only.
New electronic customs data requirements for domestic international (APO/DPO/FPO) shipments as of June 30.
New customs form requirements for domestic international shipments as of July 30
All of these things have implications to the “insides” of PPP and requires developer and testing time. The more we worry about it, the less you have to. The big question: EVS. We've been hard at work to complete the EVS-ready version of PPP and get it through a two tiered certification program. Because EVS is connected to your CAPS debit account, the certification and testing process is a level-of-seriousness (or two) above IMpb certification. USPS wants to be sure that financial connections work right – and so do we.
One of the “secrets” of EVS is that it pushes a lot more labor to the PostalOne! Dashboard. EVS users have their own area of the dashboard. My goal is to automate as much of this as possible so you don’t spend your day on the Dashboard. I think you’ll like what we’re doing in PPP for EVS. Call 1-800-524-0380 or email [email protected] for more info.
Answers to Postal Trivia
1: B 2: C 3: A 4: C 5: C 6: B
Guide to Postage Assessments If you’ve been paying attention to previous e-Tips, our newsletters and webinars, you are likely well aware that the United States Postal Service (USPS) plans to implement assessments for non-compliance with the requirements for a number of USPS initiatives such as Intelligent Mail Full-Service, eInduction, Seamless Acceptance and more. Luckily, the USPS has postponed implementation of these assessments until later this year, but many mailers still have questions on just exactly how this assessment process is going to work. Well, you are in luck, because the USPS has just issued a new Guide to Postage Assessment on the RIBBS web site. What mailings will be impacted? There are four areas of USPS validation that will be impacted by the implementation of these postage assessments:
Intelligent Mail Full-Service
Move Update
eInduction
Seamless Acceptance
Any mailings that are evaluated by the USPS in these areas have the potential to be subject to additional postage assessments if mailings exceed the designated error thresholds. These thresholds vary for the individual validations performed by PostalOne!, the results of which are available to mailers on the Mailer Scorecard.
The evaluation results data is collected on a calendar-month basis, and it is the error threshold data for each calendar month that is subject to assessments. For example, the Full-Service program uses the submitted eDoc to verify the Mailer ID (MID) in a piece’s barcode. A MID error is logged for each piece in the mailing that fails this verification. When the number of MID errors exceeds the established threshold, the eDoc submitter will be assessed on those errors over the threshold for the calendar month…. Read more: windowbook.com/Etips
Mark Riffey Vice President, Development Window Book Inc.
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Postal “Palate”
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. - Winston Churchill
“Money doesn't make you happy. I now have $50 million but I was just as happy when I had $48 million.” - Arnold Schwarzenegger
“Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, but love leaves a memory that no one can steal.” - www.itsworthquoting.com
DAT-MAIL Software Updates
The installation of MS SQL is now required for DAT-MAIL.
We have added support for the USPS 2015 Color Transpromo Promotion. The discount will appear on our Rate Summary Report and generated postage statements.
We have added support for the USPS 2015 Emerging & Advanced Technology Promotion. The discount will appear on our Rate Summary Report and generated postage statements.
We added a new Palletization option named CoPal Courtesy Pallet. This option will build pallets in Production sequence and only include trays that have the Included in Other Docs field set to I or O. The CSM Grouping ID for the newly created Pallets will be labeled as COPAL.
We have added a new validation error if a PostalOne! export is performed for a Postage Affixed mailing and the user has indicated spoilage in the PDR/PBC record using values W or S. PostalOne! rejects the processing of spoils/shorts for Postage Affixed mailing when W or S is indicated.
We have added the ability to Delete trays once they have been Canceled in PostalOne!.
We have added Sibling Pallets to our Container Audit Report.
We have added access to the Special Fees Barcode file (SFB) in our Related menu of the PDR and PBC Views.
We have added the ability for AWAM to import files that are zipped within a zipped file.
Monthly Quotes
Need Help Analyzing Your Mailer Scorecard?
Request “Professional Services” from Window Book for reviewing your Mailer Scorecard and avoid getting an invoice for Full-Service errors. This is a customized service to meet your specific needs where we can assess your Scorecard, identify mail preparation errors, and provide solutions to improve your scores. Call 1-800-524-0380 or email [email protected] to request your Professional Service.
Ingredients: 2 1⁄2 lbs chicken legs
1 2⁄3 Tbsp olive oil (to help it stop sticking to the pan)
1⁄2 cup soy sauce
1 2⁄3 Tbsp ketchup
3⁄4 cup honey
2 -3 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and pepper
Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Place chicken in a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. Mix together the oil, soy sauce, ketchup, honey, garlic, salt and pepper.
4. Pour over the chicken.
5. Bake in preheated oven for one hour, or until sauce is caramelized.
6. Could also use wings or pork ribs.
Caramelized Baked Chicken Legs/Wings - absolutely delish!
By djmastermum, Food.com
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To increase your credibility, build trust and respect in order to close more Sales with your prospects you may want to follow a time tested motto that I use in Sales Training:
Slow, Low and I Don’t Care
This means that on every Sales call you should:
Talk Slow (i.e., have the matter of fact tone of a consultant and not the over the top, high pitched enthusiasm of a brand new sales person)
Talk Low (i.e., the tonality of your voice should be a full octave lower than your normal speaking voice). A low voice translates to the prospect as having the authority and credibility of an expert. Yes, you can do low voice training exercises – and I’m going to give you some below… and
I Don’t Care if the prospect buys from me or not but the conversation they have with me will be the absolute best 30-60 minutes they will spend all year in and/or around your product or service offering (i.e., this conversation is not about a sale… it is about being of great service to help your prospects to grow and prosper).
Low Voice Training Even a great sales person doesn’t get the opportu-nity to be of great service if they don’t have the attention of their prospect. Speaking in a low voice will get you that attention.
Your prospect will make eleven (11) different as-sumptions about you as a person in the first eleven (11) seconds that you talk with them (regardless if you are selling face to face or over the telephone). They will form their opinion of you as to your level of education, your social-economic level in life, what kind of car you drive, what kind of house you live in, your overall level of success in life, etc., and most important, whether they should spend more than that first eleven (11) seconds talking to you.
Here are some exercises to help you develop a com-manding voice. Some people are blessed with reso-nance; others must learn to create it.
1. Grab a deep breath and say “hummm”. Hold onto the final “m” sound until your lips buzz. Sustain the buzzing “m’ for 10 to 15
seconds. Feel the vibrations in your lips, nose, mouth and throat.
2. Make an “n” sound by opening your mouth and touching the tip of your tongue behind the upper front teeth. As your tongue vibrates on the back of the front teeth and the palate, you should be feeling a vibration in your mouth.
3. Alternate between the “m” and “n” sounds. Note how the vibrations change. The “m” sound stimulates the front of the face while the ”n” sound shifts the focus backward, away from the lips.
4. Open your mouth, take a deep breath, and re-lease the air as you verbalize an “ah” sound. Feel the vocal chord vibrations in the front of the throat as the sound reverberates. Repeat this exercise several times. Each time drop the pitch one note lower in the vocal register.
5. Open your mouth wide and pull back your lips, stretching the neck and mouth muscles. Make an “ah” sound. Next, push your lips forward into a small “o” shape and make an “oh” sound. Repeat several times then segue the face movements and sounds together. Lis-ten to how the sounds in the mouth cavity ad-just to the shape of the lips and mouth.
6. Breathe in and exhale making a long “e” sound. Hold the “e” until you feel the vibra-tions in your throat.
7. Now sing one of your favorite songs out loud at a higher volume while accentuating your lower register to round out your training.
Once you practice each of these exercises 3-4 times per day for 3-4 days straight… you will definitely have a lower voice. The challenge is that it will only last for 3-4 days so you have to continue with your voice exercises on a weekly basis. Please practice these exercises at your own risk… I don’t want to hear that you can’t talk after this…
Now go forth and use this information to increase your productivity… and most definitely your Sales.
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People Listen to a LOW VOICE
Shane Byers, VP Client Services / Marketing Window Book
B2B Sales
Growth
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Following the June 2015 PRC Decision to remove the requirement that the USPS must publish new prices 45 days in advance, Window Book sources at the USPS have disclosed that the USPS is planning to implement “demand-based pricing” this Fall. According to these sources, pricing for all mail classes will be dynamically set based on time of day, day of week and induction facility. This is possible since the USPS no longer has to give the mailing industry any advance notice of price changes. Mailers won’t know how much their postage will really cost until their postage statements are finalized, though PostalOne!’s estimated postage statements and unpaid postage statements should give the mailer a pretty good idea. Our source for this information said “mailers should keep plenty of extra money in their permits to ensure they have enough postage to cover these rapidly fluctuating prices”. Demand-based pricing would create incentives for mailers to induct mail during slow times of the day and month. This will improve the operational efficiency of induction facilities and reduce the need for overtime staffing during peak periods. Future rate structures are likely to expand the use of demand based pricing by allowing Standard Mail and Bound Printed Matter to be zoned like Periodicals. Mailers could bring mail to the cheapest facility at the cheapest time of day. They might get a zone discount instead of a drop ship discount but thanks to demand based pricing, they could come out ahead if the mail is entered at a non-peak time. Lloyd Moss VP of Premier Client Solutions Window Book
USPS to Implement Demand Based Pricing Washington, DC August 5, 2015
On the Lighter Side (*for entertainment purposes only)
*The characters and entities referenced in this article are fictional. Any likeness to actual persons (either living or dead), entities is strictly coincidental. This article is presented solely for educa-tional and entertainment purposes. The author and publisher assume no liability for the correct-ness, completeness or quality of the information provided.
Upcoming Online Postal Webinars www.WindowBook.com/Webinars
Recorded Educational Webinars www.WindowBook.com/RecordedWebinars
Weekly e-mail postal pointers - E-Tips www.WindowBook.com/Etips
Mailing Industry White Papers www.WindowBook.com/Whitepapers
Postal Industry Articles of Interest www.windowbook.com/articles
Monthly Newsletters www.WindowBook.com/Newsletters
Blogs www.WindowBook.com/blog
FREE Educational Resources from Window Book
Visit www.WindowBook.com/Learning and stay informed on
Postal issues.
Advanced Workflow Automation Manager
- File Manager
Do you want to import your Mail.dat files faster? And reduce the need for editing Mail.dat files?
Thanks to advanced automation capabilities we can now help you. Call 800-524-0380 or email
Lower your postage costs while improving delivery service either in-house or through
a logistics company. Window Book can now help every Co-Pal Mailer.
Call 800-524-0380 or email
AWAM - FM
DAT-MAIL Tray Based Co-Pal
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Reader’s Spotlight
Hear what our clients saying about Tech Support from Window Book
Window Book’s DAT-MAIL software AND their Tech Support helped us make a smooth transition to Full-Service. You all have the patience to show step by step how things work and work through problems. - Jane Hicks, Mailroom Supervisor Adsell Companies, www.adsell.com “The Tech support staff have always been a great help. We mail over 100 million pieces of mail per year and anytime that I need them, they are there! Thanks Window Book!” - Nina Garcia, Postage Statement Clerk Resource One, http://www.resource-one.us “Fabulous Tech Support! Apostolic Faith Church has been using Window Book’s TagMaster software since 2002, and one of the reasons why we keep using Window Book is their fabulous Tech Support. - Zelma Pierce, Apostolic Faith Church www.apostolicfaith.org
Preparing Pallets for Full-Service
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You don’t want to miss this recorded webinar:
WindowBook.com/Automation
Are you a production floor mail processor, member of the IT staff, on the Customer Service Representative (CSR) team or in the accounting department?
If YES, Window Book can absolutely provide automation shortcuts to free you up for more productivity activities.
Call 1-800-524-0380 or email [email protected] to find out how.
We frequently receive questions on this topic because mailers are often confused about when (or if), trays and sacks need to be placed onto pallets or other containers such as APC’s or Gaylords for Full-Service mail. Luckily, the United States Postal Service® (USPS®) has recently updated a fact sheet intended to offer guidance to mailers on Full-Service palletization. (https://ribbs.usps.gov/intelligentmail/documents/tech_guides/FullServicePalletizationFactSheet.pdf) Is palletization required for Full-Service? The short answer is NO. Mailings of loose sacks and trays may be submitted at Full-Service prices as long as all the requirements for Full-Service participation are met. However, if these loose handling units are placed on or into any type of container, that container does need to have pallet placards affixed to the outside of the container, and that placard must be printed with a unique Intelligent Mail Container barcode. The updated fact sheet from the USPS provides more detail
regarding when these loose handling units MUST be placed on or in a container and placarded. These requirements vary by class and processing category of mail. First-Class Mail® Pallet preparation and placarding is required for First-Class mail in these scenarios:
There is 72 feet of tray mail or 24 flat tubs of mail or more
The mail within the container is prepared according to a labeling list destination and there is at least 48 feet of letter trays or 16 flat tubs or more
The mailer has an active Customer Supplier Agreement (CSA) in place
The pallet is flagged in your eDoc as participating in the eInduction program
Read more: windowbook.com/Etips
Window Book is the first Postal Software vendor to provide real end-to-end automation of the most time consuming tasks required to do PostalOne!® e-Docs with Mail.dat® files.
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Window Book, Inc. 300 Franklin Street Cambridge, MA 02139-3781
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CAMBRIDGE, MA PERMIT NO. 55725
©2015 Window Book, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. Contact Window Book for current information. DAT-MAIL is a trademark of Window Book, Inc. INTELLIGENT MAIL®, PostalOne!®, IMB™, United States Postal Service® , and USPS® are registered trademarks owned by the United States Postal Service. Mail.dat, Mail.XML and IDEAlliance are trademarks of the International Digital Enterprise Alliance. All other trademarks are held by their respective owner or manufacturer.
Summer of Freedom with Automation
Do yourself a favor and call 800-524-0380 and ask for your FREE Use to experience a real end-to-end automated mailing process. You can’t get this anywhere else in the industry. Call now — we are only offering this to a limited number of companies! Call a Window Book Client Service Director at 1-800-524-0380 and mention this special offer to schedule your FREE Trial.
Free Automation Use available until Labor Day.
