Steps to Creating Your Intelligent Mail Barcode

The serialized Intelligent Mail^® barcode (IMb^®) is a 65-bar Postal Service™ barcode used to sort and track individual letters and flats. The barcode simplifies data – gathering by consolidating information for multiple Postal Service identifiers into one comprehensive location. Using a serialized IMb also expands mailers’ ability to track individual mailpieces and gain greater mailstream visibility.

Uniquely serialized IMbs facilitate the tracking of individual ballots to and from individual voters. For example, a single household may have multiple individual voters residing at the same address. If the IMb on the ballot envelopes to and from those individual voters have not been uniquely serialized, they cannot be tracked as they move through the mailstream. Election officials will need to maintain the relationship of the serial number to the specific voter.

A uniquely serialized IMb can be applied to all automation compatible letters and flats and is critical for using Informed Visibility^® Mail Tracking and Reporting (IV^®-MTR) service. The IV-MTR application provides information about when and where the Postal Service sorts a mailpiece on mail-processing equipment. A uniquely serialized IMb can also be used for address correction services: manual address correction notices, Address Change Service (ACS^™), OneCode ACS^®, and Intelligent Mail Full-Service ACS^™.

PostalPro Resources

The IV-MTR User Guide can be found under the IV-MTR User Guides and Training section at https://postalpro.usps.com/InformedVisibility.

For guidance on address quality, please visit https://postalpro.usps.com/address-quality.

Additional information on the Intelligent Mail program can be found at https://postalpro.usps.com/mailing/intelligent-mail-barcode.