PRC Endorses Mail Tracking Service
Confirm, a mail tracking system proposed by the U.S. Postal Service, has been endorsed by the Postal Rate Commission and probably will be adopted in the near future.
Base charges for the three-tier service would run between $2,000 and $10,000.
To use Confirm, mailers place a new barcode called the Planet (Postal Alpha Numeric Encoding Technique) code on their mail pieces, enabling them to track processing and delivery of automatable Standard mail, packages, periodicals and first class mail.
Mail pieces with Planet codes will run through existing mail processing equipment. The machines then generate a detailed record of the mail’s movement, so subscribers know when a customer is about to receive a bill, notice, offer or publication, according to both the USPS and the PRC.
That record, they said, is expected to provide DMers with accurate data for improving mailing operations, such as fine-tuning drop-shipping plans, staffing and cash flow, while allowing them to “closely coordinate marketing efforts to increase response rates.”
Postal officials also said the information would help them evaluate and upgrade mail processing.
The PRC, in recommending Confirm’s implementation, said another reason the system would be beneficial to mailers and the USPS is because the underlying technology could spawn “additional uses over time, leading to service enhancements with the potential for improving mailer and postal service operational efficiencies.”
A three-month basic subscription would cost $2,000. Twelve months of Gold service (with two enhancements, such as additional ID codes or scans) would be $4,500, and a year’s worth of Platinum service (including all available system enhancements) would go for $10,000.
