Effective March 5, 2018, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®), sections 204.1.3.1 and 507.10, to replace Intelligent Mail® barcode (IMb) Tracing with Informed Visibility® (IV).
The Postal Service announced that the IMb Tracing system was retired on November 30, 2017. As a result, the Postal Service required all IMb Tracing customers to migrate to Informed Visibility in order to continue receiving data. The migration from IMb Tracing to IV supports the following two specific purposes:
n Provides a secure method of file transmission, and
n Eliminates the end of life issues users encountered with the IMb Tracing systems.
Although we will not publish these revisions in the DMM until March 5, 2018, the standards are effective immediately.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
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200 Commercial Mail Letters, Cards, Flats, and Parcels
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204 Barcode Standards
1.0 Standards for Intelligent Mail and POSTNET Barcodes
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1.3 Intelligent Mail Barcodes
1.3.1 Definition
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[Revise the text of item c. to read as follows:]
c. Reply mailpieces using origin Informed Visibility do not require a Mailer ID (MID) to be encoded into the Mailer Identifier field. All other mailpieces (including QBRM letters and PRM pieces) bearing Intelligent Mail barcodes must include the MID in the Mailer Identifier field. Additional information on Informed Visibility is available under 507.10.0. Mailers printing the Intelligent Mail barcode solely for automation price eligibility can contact the PostalOne! Help Desk at 800-522-9085 to obtain a MID.
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500 Additional Mailing Services
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507 Mailer Services
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[Revise the title of 10.0 to read as follows:]
10.0 Informed Visibility
10.1 Basic Standards
10.1.1 Description
[Revise the introductory text of 10.1.1 to read as follows:]
Informed Visibility (IV) provides a mailer with data electronically collected from the scanning of barcoded mailpieces as they pass through automated mail processing operations. Scanned data can include the postal facility where such pieces are processed, the postal operation used to process the pieces, the date and time when the pieces are processed, and the numeric equivalent of a barcode(s) that helps to identify the specific pieces. This service does not provide a delivery scan or proof of delivery and not every piece is guaranteed such data or complete data.
IV is available for automation-compatible letter-size and automation-compatible flat-size mail meeting the physical characteristics and standards in 10.0. Participation in IV service is available at no charge without a subscription. Requirements include:
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10.2 Barcodes
10.2.1 General Barcode Requirements
[Revise the first sentence in the introductory text of 10.2.1 to read as follows:]
Each piece in a mailing that is intended to generate IV information must bear an Intelligent Mail barcode under 10.2.2.***
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10.2.2 Intelligent Mail Barcode Requirements
[Revise the introductory text of 10.2.2 and item a. to read as follows:]
To obtain IV, mailers must apply Intelligent Mail barcodes on letter-size pieces or on flat-size pieces meeting automation-compatibility standards in 201.3.0 (letters) or 201.6.0 (flats). The following standards apply:
a. Intelligent Mail barcodes must meet the barcode and format standards in 204.1.0 and in Specification USPS-B-3200 at postalpro.usps.com.
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Index and Appendices
Index
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I
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Intelligent Mail
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[Revise IMb Tracing entry to read as follows:]
Informed Visibility, 507.10.0
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We will incorporate these revisions into the next online update of the DMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification, Marketing, 2-1-18
