On June 4, 2009, the Postal Service™ is offering mailers a new precertification process for Confirmation Services/eVS® barcoded labels. This precertification process will eliminate the need for qualified mailers to submit labels to Confirmation Services Technical Support at the National Customer Support Center for certification before mailing.
Currently, the Postal Service requires Confirmation Services/eVS customers to submit barcoded labels and files to Confirmation Services Technical Support for testing and certification before mailing. Mailers provide 10 labels per printer that will be used to generate labels, and software vendors provide 100 labels per printer that will be used to generate labels. An analysis is performed on the labels to ensure that the barcodes can be scanned by Postal Service equipment. This process is performed in 1 to 2 business days from receipt of the labels. Then a pass or fail response is provided back to the customers at the conclusion of the analysis. Customers passing the minimum label requirements are “certified” in our account management system and tracking database. The customers can then begin shipping.
Mailers and software vendors producing software that will be used either in-house or by their customers may qualify for the Confirmation Services/eVS Barcoded Label Precertification Program. Mailers and software vendors meeting this criterion will be referred to as “vendors.” This precertification process is specific to labels only and will allow new customers printing labels produced by the vendor’s software to be automatically “certified” after the Postal Service assigns a mailer ID to the vendor’s customers. This will allow vendors to acquire new customers promptly, and allow them to begin mailing soon thereafter.
To qualify, vendors must have multiple sites that mail a total of 10,000 or more pieces per month. The vendor’s files must be transmitted to and from one source, using the same file transfer method for which the vendor was approved. The vendor’s Master Mailer ID must be used in the Header Record of the file.
The following procedures must be used to precertify barcoded labels produced by a qualifying vendor’s software. During a 30- to 60-day trial period, the Postal Service will validate the accuracy and compliance of the vendor’s barcoded labels. The duration of the trial period is contingent on the vendor’s past label quality as identified on the USPS® Manually Keyed Label Report. Manually keyed labels are labels that bear a barcode that cannot be scanned by the Postal Service’s handheld scanners; therefore, the human-readable numbers are manually entered. When this occurs, the potential exists for transposing digits, which results in lost visibility of the mailpiece. This report provides a listing of the vendor’s existing customers, how many labels were presented, how many labels were manually keyed, and the percentage of labels that were manually keyed.
Prior to the expiration of the trial period, the vendor must provide the Postal Service with quality assurance procedures that ensure its software’s ability to produce barcoded labels within the Postal Service’s specifications (e.g., a letter to their customers informing them of the importance of printer maintenance, etc.).
Precertification Trial Period
The following procedures will be used for precertification of vendor software during the trial period:
1. Prior to the start of the trial period, the vendor must submit 100 Confirmation Services/eVS labels with a valid Mailer ID. Each class of mail and each service (e.g., Delivery Confirmation™ service, eVS, etc.) generated from its software must be represented in the 100-label sample. The sample labels must be submitted to Confirmation Services Technical Support for evaluation.
2. Confirmation Services Technical Support will notify the vendor and USPS Product Information Requirements of label evaluation results. Upon successful label evaluation, Confirmation Services Technical Support must:
a. Add the vendor profile to the account management system.
b. Add the vendor’s customer’s profile to the account management system, selecting the vendor’s name in the account management system.
c. Enter comments in the account management system documenting the vendor’s software’s name and Master Mailer ID indicating that the vendor’s software successfully meets Postal Service requirements for the Confirmation Services/eVS Barcoded Label Precertification Program.
The vendor’s customer’s labels will be automatically “certified” for Confirmation Services/eVS labels. If the labels submitted fail evaluation, the vendor must correct any problems identified and resubmit 100 label samples for evaluation until the labels pass.
3. The vendor must submit a separate completed PS Form 5051, Confirmation Services Electronic Option Application, to Confirmation Services Technical Support for each new customer acquired during the trial period. The vendor or its customer completing the form must:
a. Indicate the vendor’s name and the customer’s name in Field 1 (“Company Name”). The first seven characters of the company name field must be the vendor’s name (abbreviated if necessary), followed by the vendor’s customer’s name.
b. Select 7.b: “No Transmission Form This Site: Labels only.”
c. Specify the printer type and the Mailer ID assigned to the new customer from the preassigned Mailer ID range that will be provided to the vendor by the Postal Service in Field 11: “Please provide additional information unique to your process, or discuss other issues.”
PS Form 5052, Printer Certification Submission, and physical labels are not required. Confirmation Services Technical Support must enter profile information for the new customer using the specified Mailer ID in the account management system for each application and set the Mailer ID as “certified” for labels only. The customer may begin mailing on the next business day after the database has been updated.
4. The vendor’s software must produce unique barcoded labels that will be monitored on the Duplicate Label Report (sample will be provided).
5. The Postal Service will monitor barcoded labels generated by the vendor’s customers who have been precertified during this trial period to ensure the barcoded labels are being successfully scanned by USPS equipment. Scan rates are determined by using the USPS weekly Manually Keyed Label Report (sample will be provided). The Postal Service has determined that the acceptable successful scan rate is 98.5 percent during the 30- to 60–day trial period. No more than 1.5 percent of the vendor’s barcoded labels can be manually keyed during this period. During the trial period, the vendor will be notified of any customer(s) falling below acceptable scan rates. The vendor must provide the Postal Service with a contact name for this purpose. The vendor must contact the customer to provide feedback to correct manually keyed labels within 5 business days. Customers whose labels fall below the acceptable scan rates are encouraged to work with Confirmation Services Technical Support to identify and correct the issue(s). Failure to correct the manually keyed labels will result in termination of the trial period. Within 10 days of the start of the trial period, the vendor must provide the procedural steps to be used to notify its customers and the actions to be taken to correct the barcoded labels that fail Postal Service operational scanning. If, during the 30- to 60–day trial period, the scan rate has a significant negative trend, the Postal Service will collaborate with the vendor to assist in resolving any issues.
6. During the trial period, the vendor must notify the Postal Service’s Product Information Requirements and Confirmation Services Technical Support of any version changes/upgrades made to its software system that may affect label generation.
At the conclusion of the 30- to 60-day trial period, the Postal Service will perform an analysis to determine if:
n The vendor’s software consistently met the needs for barcode requirements. The measure of success will be at least a 98.5 percent scan rate for pieces mailed during the trial period.
n Duplicate labels are identified.
n All vendor’s customers are using the vendor’s Mailer IDs.
Upon successful completion of the trial period, the vendor may be eligible to participate in the Postal Service’s Confirmation Services Barcoded Label Precertification Program.
Precertification Program Participation
At the conclusion of the trial period, the Postal Service will provide the vendor with a monthly Manually Keyed Report. The vendor must identify customers that produce more than 200 labels per month and exceed 1.5 percent manually keyed. The vendor must work with customers who exceed 1.5 percent manually keyed to improve their label quality. Customers are encouraged to submit labels to Confirmation Services Technical Support for courtesy checks so that the issues can be identified and corrected. The Postal Service will continue to monitor the monthly Manually Keyed Report. At the end of 1 year, the monthly Manually Keyed Report must demonstrate that no more than 5 percent of their customers producing more than 200 labels per month exceed 1.5 percent manually keyed. Failure to comply will result in a 1-month probationary period. At the conclusion of the month, label quality must improve, or, based on the extent of the poor label quality, the vendor will no longer be able to offer label precertification to new customers. New customers will be required to submit labels to Confirmation Services Technical Support for analysis.
After the vendor has successfully met the criteria listed above during the 30- to 60-day trial period and elects to participate in the label precertification program, mailers will not be required to submit barcoded labels for certification, except as set forth above.
The Postal Service reserves the right to cancel this process and trial period at any time. Details of the Confirmation Service Barcoded Label Precertification Program will be published in revisions to Publication 91, Confirmation Services Technical Guide, and Publication 205, Electronic Verification System Business and Technical Guide.
Mailers/software vendors meeting the criteria, who are interested, may contact Confirmation Services Technical Support at 877-264-9693 (option 1) for assistance.
— Product Information Requirements,
Business Mail Entry & Payment Technologies, 6-4-09
