Scuff and burn marks on mailpieces: what’s causing it and how to protect your mail If you’ve noticed scuff or burn marks on postcards and printed mail in your mailbox, you’re not alone. In the last several weeks, we’ve had an uptick in reports of mail being damaged this way during postal processing and delivery. We asked the Postal Service about it and here’s what we learned about what’s happening, and what you can do right now to minimize the issue. What’s causing the marks? The marks result from automated mail sorting machinery and come from two related sources. We’re told the “belt burn” effect occurs because pusher “fingers” on the DBCS (Delivery Barcode Sorter) have been temporarily deactivated by the USPS due to safety concerns. Without the pushers to guide pieces […]

By Lee Garvey Returned mail is one of those operational problems that’s easy to ignore until it becomes expensive. A few undeliverable pieces here and there seem harmless, but across a mailing list of any size, bad addresses translate directly into wasted postage, missed communications, and a contact database that quietly degrades over time. Handling returned mail well — and building processes to reduce it — is one of the highest-ROI improvements a business can make to its mailing operations. From your desk — in minutes Launch 500 postcards / flyers / letters in ~5 minutes. We print, address, and mail for you. Upload your design and mailing list, pay, done. No post office run. No subscriptions. Next-business-day mailing for most products. Create your free account No minimums. Use any email to […]

By Lee Garvey If you’ve looked closely at a piece of business mail recently, you’ve likely noticed a row of tall and short bars printed near the address area. That’s the Intelligent Mail Barcode, and it carries significantly more information than it appears to. For businesses that send mail at any volume, understanding how IMb works — and what it makes possible — changes how you think about mail tracking, delivery timing, and campaign coordination. From your desk — in minutes Launch 500 postcards / flyers / letters in ~5 minutes. We print, address, and mail for you. Upload your design and mailing list, pay, done. No post office run. No subscriptions. Next-business-day mailing for most products. Create your free account No minimums. Use any email to get started. Fast Estimated postcard […]