Sounds like Bill Arnold is our Go To Guy. But until he weighs in, these are the general guidelines I have been given by a USPS rep out in my neck of the woods. First, if you have a sizeable mailing you may be required to actually use bar coding whether you want to or not. Also, even if you run the addresses through an address validation application, which pretties the address formats up in a way the USPS likes, you may also need to do a National Change Of Address process, to reduce the number of invalid target people/addresses. I do not know how severely the USPS will come down on you for not complying with the NCOA being run against your mailing database (twice per year I think), but for smaller mailings (several hundred at a crack) you may get away with it.
There is so much more to the USPS compliance game that you really ought to confer with a specialist, or with your local USPS facility. I found the folks very helpful. Good Luck! Gil > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of James E Harvey > Sent: Friday, March 30, 2007 2:59 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: bar codes for address labels > > > I know diddly squat about this, but have been asked to look into the > options. > > We mail several catalogs each fall, and we think we can save on > postage with > the use of bar codes? > > Never did bar codes, and not sure where to go to find out what we > need to do > for this to be effective with the U.S. Post Office. > > Our mailing list is in-house, nothing special, just the usual vfp type app > with normal addresses, no zip code lookups, no address confirmations. > > Thanks, > > Jim > > James E Harvey > Hanover Shoe Farms, Inc. > M.I.S./Corresponding Officer > Off: 717-637-8931 > fax: 717-637-6766 > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: %(real_name)[EMAIL PROTECTED](host_name)s Subscription Maintenance: %(web_page_url)slistinfo%(cgiext)s/%(_internal_name)s OT-free version of this list: %(web_page_url)slistinfo%(cgiext)s/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/%(messageid) ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
