At the recent National Postal Forum (NPF) speakers and exhibitors shared transformative trends in mail and shipping, emphasizing the integration of technology to enhance efficiency and accuracy in print, mail and shipping operations. I had the pleasure of speaking to print and mail operations managers who attended to learn about new technologies driving operational efficiency to positively impact their organizations. With the largest attendance in fifteen years, 5600 people demonstrated enthusiasm for all things print, mail and shipping.
The big themes in the educational sessions were:
- Enhanced address quality
- Improved workflow for inbound and outbound mail
- AI tools to drive operational efficiency and ROI
Collaboration to enhance address quality
Many industry thought leaders presented educational sessions on technology and solutions to improve address quality and reduce returned mail. Speakers included experts from GrayHair Software, Snail Works, BCC Software and the USPS.
They shared the importance of implementing address verification tools to validate and standardize addresses before mailing and establishing routine processes for updating and cleansing address lists to maintain data integrity. The key benefits of good address management include improved delivery rates, customer satisfaction, and reduced cost and wasted resources in handling returned or undeliverable mail. With large postage rate increases planned for July and more expected in 2026, mailers must implement effective strategies to reduce returned mail.
Postal Oversight Needed for Transactional Mail
With many changes in postal processing and postal regulations, it’s vital for organizations producing transactional mail to create and expand their center of excellence of postal knowledge. If the one or two key people who understand postal leave an organization, it is very difficult to fill the gap in lost knowledge and ensure compliance with postal regulations.
Industry speakers encouraged attendees to stay informed about USPS guidelines and updates related to first class mail with online USPS tools, regular communications with strategic partners, and industry news sources. Mailers need to regularly review and update quality control measures to ensure mail pieces and presort partners meet postal standards and maximize postal discounts. Enhanced compliance reduces the risk of fines and delays while maintaining timely communications to recipients.
Leveraging AI in the Mailroom
Kevin Goss from Postal Source presented a session on leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the mailroom. AI can automate routine tasks, such as sorting and routing mail, leading to increased efficiency. AI applications can also assist in document processing and data extraction, reducing manual processing and errors. The tools have advanced quickly, enabling digital scanned documents to connect to intelligent document processing. The AI workflows are able to ingest information like a human, extract data and then provide it to appropriate teams without the need for people to perform routine processing. Goss shared examples of solutions that integrate with existing mailroom equipment to automate repetitive tasks. This allows staff to focus on oversight and exception handling. There are opportunities to expand the use of AI tools in building and managing workflows without the need for internal IT resources. Adoption continues as organizations experience improved processing speed and accuracy in mail handling while reducing operational costs.
Embracing the Digital Mail Journey
EMC insurance presented their digital mail transformation success story. Operating in 43 states, before their digital transformation project, their operations had 42 people in 16 locations using 72 different envelopes to process mail. They partnered with EcoMail and Opex, leveraging SaaS platforms with minimal customization to reengineer their mail processing. The new solution includes tracking, standardized metrics, centralized processing, and new workflows with 2 envelopes and only 7 people touching inbound mail. They have digital tracking systems to provide real-time updates on mail status.
The new workflow leverages AI and machine learning (ML) to automate rules, make better decisions and improve efficiency. EMC can now build the APIs without IT resources. The results are big. With digital mail and other digital transformation projects completed in the last year, EMC had their highest profit year in 2024.
The 2025 NPF sessions underscore the importance of integrating technology and maintaining compliance to optimize mail and shipping operations. With the rapid pace of AI impacting every area of business, leaders must invest in education and embrace change to provide value to their organizations and teams.
I hope to see you at the IPMA annual conference to learn from peers making a difference in their organizations.
Lois Ritarossi, CMC®, is the President of High Rock Strategies, a consulting firm focused on sales and marketing strategies, and business growth for firms in the print, mail and communication sectors. Lois brings her clients a cross functional skill set and strategic thinking with disciplines in business strategy, sales process, sales training, marketing, software implementation, inkjet transformation and workflow optimization. Lois has enabled clients to successfully launch new products and services with integrated sales and marketing strategies, and enabled sales teams to effectively win new business. You can reach Lois at https://www.highrockstrategies.com/ or Lritarossi@highrockstrategies.com