Geeking out about Mail is something that I have grown to enjoy doing. You can’t glamorize mail, but you can certainly geek out about it. I find that my postal conversations tend to go sideways and random like a priority package that goes to four different stops before making it to its final destination. Let’s face it, not everything about mail is black and white and deserves no reason for a clear cut answer. **grin**
I have grown very fond of bulk mailing and I am most intrigued by the amount of money that one can save when sending pieces at bulk rate. Sure, the responsibility falls completely on the operator to properly and accurately prepare the bulk mailing. But, that is what guarantees the low rates.
Recently I have learned that one can also send bulk mail in the form of parcels! I was like, “This is brilliant! How do I do this?” So, I gave it a try and my first attempt was a little less than stellar and proved to me that I needed to educate myself a little bit more on what I needed to do. What prompted the researching is when I took my first parcel bulk mail down to the post office and my contact gal there noted, “Oh, none of the packages has a barcode on the label.”
I was dumbfounded and truly there were no barcodes of any such on the labels. My contact person kindly said that she would charge a “non-barcode” fee and take the bulk mailing. And so what that meant was she would take the packages and put a standard “Label 400” on it. And then charge me small fee for applying the labels on each package.
After doing some research I found that what I was actually needing was an IMpB, which stands for “Intelligent Mail PACKAGE Barcode”. As opposed to just a standard IMB, which gets printed on letters and flats bulk mailings.
I use Quadient Bulk Mailer Business and so I went in and carefully looked at my settings and chose the correct properties that would allow me to print the IMpB on the package labels. I had to choose “Machinable Rectangle (non-profit)”. I continued by entering the height, length, depth and weight by a single piece and not 10 pieces. Now, side note…I had to set up a template that allowed the printer to print the IMpB. Therefore, I created a 4×6 template to be printed on a Zebra label printer. Then, once I am ready to print, I just go into print properties and select the label printer and proper label size. There was a bit of trial and error that I had to endure, but in the end, I believe that I am ready to attempt another parcel bulk mailing
I appreciate the opportunities I get to learn new processes and methods to help save the university money.
For over 20 years, Richard has been in the printing and mailing industry. Having spent the last 10 years in higher education, there is nothing under the sun when it comes to mailing and printing. Richard thrives on customer services and will make sure that he delivers the best to everyone he encounters. He has been an active member of IPMA for 10 years and has been involved with a lot of the behind the scenes action to make the magic happen. During his time on the board, Richard founded and designed IPMA’s Road Show. He saw the need for local in-plant operators to band together and collectively share ideas and resources in ways that could not be met on the national level. Richard is also the recipient of one of IPMA’s prestigious awards for being the Outstanding Contributor for 2017 and he displays the award in his office with great pride.