On August 23, 2018, the Postal Service™ issued an advanced notice of proposed rule-making in the Federal Register that stated that the USPS® was considering revising content standards for all Marketing Mail. The proposed change would limit all USPS Marketing Mail, regular and nonprofit, letter-size and flat-size, to content that is only paper-based/printed matter; no… Read: USPS Issues Clarification of the Federal Register Notice Concerning USPS Marketing Mail Content Standards »

With the holiday season around the corner, our Customer Support team has been getting more and more questions regarding the coverage and dates of the Presort and Encoding Tables. Many mail shops know this time of year brings high-volume mail, and they’ll begin to receive orders much earlier than normal. To avoid the time crunch… Read: Data File Coverage and Updates »

Ready to revolutionize your business and upgrade your current NCOALink subscription? Get started using COMPLIANCE+ today!    Now that we’ve been offering COMPLIANCE+™ for a few weeks, BCC Software’s Data Marketing Services department wanted to share some FAQs with our customers. Q: What is the sequence of processes used for this service? A: Address Resolution… Read: COMPLIANCE+ FAQs »

This is a guest article from Virtual Systems, a valued BCC Software partner. As discussed in Virtual Systems’ latest guest article, transitioning to a new software system or migrating to an updated version of a program can seem like a daunting task for everyone involved. Assigning the right people to specific roles during a software… Read: Keys to a Successful and Timely Software Implementation: Part 2 »

With election season, and in turn election mailings, in full swing across the country, it’s more important than ever to know how you can maximize your postal discounts. Over the course of the past few eBulletin’s, we’ve discussed how certain services, such as DSF2® processing and mail piece tracking can play a role, and this… Read: Take Advantage of Drop Shipping »

In a private ceremony at the US Treasury Department, Robert M. Duncan of Kentucky and David Williams of Illinois were sworn in as Governors of the U.S. Postal Service®.  Because it requires at least four Governors to have a quorum, the Board of Governors must continue to operate as a Temporary Emergency Committee (TEC). Back… Read: USPS Holds First Meeting of the Temporary Emergency Committee (TEC) with New Governors »

On September 17, the Senate passed the STOP (Synthetics Trafficking & Overdose Prevention) Act on a 99-1 vote. The bill is an effort to stop dangerous synthetic drugs like fentanyl from entering the United States. Under the bill, the Postal Service™ will be required to collect Advanced Electronic Data (AED) like other commercial carriers FedEx… Read: STOP Act Passes Senate »

There are two buzz terms you’ve heard a lot about over the past 12-18 months — Informed Visibility® (IV) and Informed Delivery® (ID). Both are designed to position technology around mail for the future. Have you taken advantage of these tools yet? Informed Visibility Informed Visibility refers to the visibility of the mail while processing… Read: Mailing Technology & Your Business »

According to their website, “the Package Coalition is an alliance of small, medium, and large businesses as well as consumers who recognize the importance of preserving affordable, reliable postal package delivery services.” Notable Coalition members include Amazon, Columbia Sportwear Company, Express Scripts, National Retail Federation, OSM Worldwide, Publishers Clearing House, and Pitney Bowes. The organization… Read: New Package Coalition Formed »

The Postal Service™ is attempting to limit ALL USPS® Marketing Mail (previously known as Standard Mail) to only paper-based/printed matter. This could mean a significant price increase to many mailers. Comments are due October 22, 2018 — make your voices heard! Below is the Industry Alert released by the United States Postal Service®: USPS Marketing… Read: Make Your Voices Heard! »

The Delivery Point Validation, or DPV, Vacant and DPV, No Stat fields are populated during CASS™ encoding, and will indicate if an address is vacant and/or if mail is not currently being received at that location. Both of these fields are frequently overlooked by mailers when evaluating their CASS results because, after CASS encoding, these… Read: Tech Tip: Often Overlooked Delivery Point Validation (DPV) Fields »

This is a guest article from Solimar Systems, a valued BCC Software partner. The concept of a workflow is frequently discussed, especially in terms of transactional print or direct mail. However, the term can  mean different things to different people, depending on the company and context. From the Solimar Systems perspective, “workflow” is used to… Read: Address Cleansing Plus Workflow Equals Superior In-Plant Efficiency »

On Friday, August 10th, 2018, the Postal Service™ issued an Industry Alert notifying ACS™ customers that they will resume billing for ACS services beginning August 24th.  The August 24th invoice will include charges for the fulfillment of ACS-related services for the period of July 25th through August 24th. The next invoice, scheduled for September 24th… Read: Postal Service to Resume Billing for ACS Services Effective August 24, 2018 »

On August 9th, the USPS® reported its financial results for the third quarter of 2018 (April 1 – June 30). The Postal Service™ posted a loss of $1.489 billion, compared with a $2.1 billion loss during Q3 of 2017. Due to the January price increase and continued growth in the package business, the Postal Service… Read: USPS Reports FY 2018 Q3 Financial Results »

With election season around the corner, BCC Software’s Customer Support is busier than ever helping our customers answer questions on the ins-and-outs of mailing political materials. One of the most common questions is, “what’s the difference between Political and Election mail?” On the surface they sound similar, but there are distinct differences that can have… Read: Political vs. Election Mail: What’s the Difference? »

On August 28th, Robert M. Duncan of Kentucky and David Williams of Illinois were confirmed as Governors of the U.S. Postal Service® by voice vote in the Senate. At full complement, the USPS® Board of Governors includes nine Presidentially appointed Governors, along with the Postmaster General (PMG) and the Deputy Postmaster General (DPMG). The Board… Read: Senate Confirms Two Nominees to the USPS Board of Governors »