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The purpose of this information is to educate those who use or support users of WordPerfect POSTNET bar code features on postal guidelines and procedures. This is not complete nor exact, but will provide information that may be helpful. It is best to refer users to their local postal representative if questions do come up. This is the information received from our postal representative, and it would be best if the customer would check with their postal representative for additional information and clarification. (A list of Postal Business Centers throughout the United States can be requested from local post offices.) POSTNET barcodes are one of several requirements for postal discounts. WordPerfect's DataPerfect 2.2, WordPerfect 6.x for DOS (WP 6.x DOS), and WordPerfect 6.x, 7, and 8 (WPWin 6.x/7/8) for Windows software are certified with the National Customer Support Center for the US Postal Service (USPS) for the POSTNET barcode. Certified printers include: 1. Hewitt Packard(tm) LaserJet III and IIID (DataPerfect, WPWin 6.x/7/8) 2. IBM(tm) LaserPrinter 4019 and 4019E (WPWin 6.x/7/8) 3. Kyocera(tm) F-1000A, F-1010, F-2000A, F-2010 (WP 6.x DOS and WPWin 6.x/7/8) There are a number of factors beyond the certified software and printers that are required to gain postal discounts. The Bulk Mail Entry Unit is the department at the post office where mail is taken that qualifies for any bulk mail discounts. Again, contact your local postal representative for details. The postal service will not use the POSTNET barcode to route the postal piece if it does not have a Facing Identification Mark (FIM). A FIM is a set of graphics lines located to the left of the postage stamp. Common postal pieces that use FIMs are business reply cards. (FIMs are used on other postal pieces as well.) If the postal equipment finds a FIM (with stamped mail), the postal piece is routed through cancellation equipment, then sent to a POSTNET barcode reader. If no FIM is found, the postal piece is routed to an Optical Character Reader (OCR) where the address block is read from the bottom up. Postal equipment sprays a POSTNET bar code in the lower right corner of the postal piece. (This is why a postal piece may have two POSTNET bar codes.) Metered letters do not go through cancellation equipment. The meter date is considered a cancellation. All metered letters (unless mail is entered at the Bulk Mail Entry Unit) are put on the OCR for processing. The POSTNET barcode can be placed in three different locations. The preferred location is in the lower right corner of the envelope. The second best position is above the address block, and the third option is below the address block. If no FIM is found on the envelope and a POSTNET barcode is used, it should be placed above the address block. The OCR reader reads the address from the bottom up. If the mail piece does go to the OCR and another barcode needs to be sprayed on the mail piece, it will be placed in the lower right corner. The POSTNET barcode should be 11 digits. (Check with your Postal Representative for information about how to identify the last two digits. Basically, they are the last two numbers of the primary street address, such as 55 for 1555 Technology Way.) The ZIP Code in the address block should be the ZIP or ZIP+4. The tenth and eleventh digits should not be included in the address block. These last two digits must be entered manually since WordPerfect software does NOT identify and automatically add the last two numbers of the primary street address in the barcode field. It is recommended to use one field for the ZIP+4 and another for the 11- digit POSTNET barcode when using a WordPerfect Data Merge file or a DataPerfect database. The address block should: Print within a certain area (defined as the OCR read area on Notice 67 template) 1. Use a readable font for the optical reader (San Serif fonts, see Publication 25, Table 2, page 25) 2. Be all uppercase 3. Have no punctuation (A hyphen "-" is not considered punctuation and therefore can be part of the address block where appropriate.) 4. Use standard abbreviations (see Publication 28, Appendix F, pages 73- 74). Those who are interested in specific information should contact their local postal representative. Publications 25 and 28 are free items. If a business does not have CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System) Certified software which validates ZIP+4, a user can request assistance from the local Postal Business Center. The USPS will match a customer's address file against the national database and give them a CASS certificate. This service is free to customers the first time. The address file needs to be recertified every year in order to obtain postal discounts. This service is provided through a third-party vendor who uses a CASS-Certified program that certifies the address file and provides a yearly certificate. When a customer uses a CASS-certified program to match the address file, a summary report and a computerized PS3553 form is generated. This form is required when delivering bulk mail to the Bulk Mail Entry Unit. WordPerfect software is NOT CASS-certified because the program doesn't take the address list and provide the valid ZIP+4 code; it merely creates a barcode from the numbers provided. There are currently no plans to be CASS-certified. Since WordPerfect software cannot guarantee that every customer's printer will print a barcode in the exact location and in the quality the Post Office requires (i.e., dot- matrix printer quality may not be good enough), each customer will need to print some envelopes (about 10), and get them certified by the U.S. Postal Service individually. Ì
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