New Postal Changes
Check these out before preparing mailings!

The United States Postal Service is making two postal changes that may impact how you communicate with the university’s donors, alumni and other community members. The changes are as follows:

Move Update Requirement: effective November 23, 2008
Applies to: Presorted First Class and Standard Mailings (mass/bulk mail)

All Presorted First Class and Standard Mailings (Non-Profit and Commercial Rate Standard Mail) known as mass or bulk mail now have to use an address list that has undergone a Move Update 95 days prior to the mailing date. Move Update is a process for updating names and addresses on a mailing list. If the recipient has moved, or the address is incorrect, the Move Update process will make the necessary corrections.  This will save both you and the U.S. Postal Service time and money by not processing undeliverable mail pieces.

There are four approved methods to meet this requirement, which are as follows:

•  Ancillary Service Endorsements, such as: Address Service Requested, Return Service Requested, Change Service Requested, and Forwarding Service Requested
• Address Change Service, also known as ACS
• National Change of Address processing
• FAST forward process

University Mail Special Services is currently processing all bulk mailings submitted for processing through the National Change of Address to meet this requirement. A service charge for this process will be applied as necessary. University departments that have their own departmental databases or purchase lists from mail-list vendors will have to submit a PS Form 6014 prior to the mailing. If you have questions about this process or about any exceptions to the rule, please contact the leaders of our Mail Special Services team, Rene Zapata or Herman Vallejo.

At present, University Mail Special Services is working with Office of the Vice President for Development, and the Mainframe Systems Analyst team to process the entire VIP database system to meet this requirement.

Flats Sequencing System Implementation: effective March 29, 2009
Applies to: Periodicals, Bound Printed Material, Media Mail, and Standard Mail

In an effort to automate and process flat-size mail, the United States Postal Service is implementing the following design change. Effective on March 29, 2009, the placement of the address on periodicals, bound printed material, media mail, and standard mail all have to adhere to these new guidelines:

• The “front” of bound materials is presented when the spine is on the right (not the left)
• The delivery address must be found in the upper half of the front (not in the lower left corner like most magazines, or placed dead center of a horizontally oriented piece)

Designers currently in the process of designing pieces to be mailed or buying large envelopes should be cognizant of the new address placement. For more information about this change or to see examples of correctly addressed mail, visit the U.S. Postal Service Web site.