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New Barcode Readability Standards |
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Working through the Mailers’ Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC), the Postal Service™ and the mailing industry have agreed to set an 80% threshold for barcode readability verifications for letter and flat mailings using the Intelligent Mail barcodes.
Working through the Mailers’ Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC), the Postal Service™ and the mailing industry have agreed to set an 80% threshold for barcode readability verifications for letter and flat mailings using the Intelligent Mail barcodes.
This change is effective on November 30, 2009. The threshold since July 2009 was 70%. Mailings that are verified and that have a barcode readability score of below 80% will not be eligible for automation or Full-Serviceprices. Further agreement was reached to revise the barcode readability verification threshold to 90% effective March 15, 2010.
Similar to the POSTNET barcode, mailers are achieving very good readability scores on MERLIN® for Intelligent Mail barcodes. MERLIN scores for the period October 3, 2009 to November 2, 2009 are reflected below and will be posted on ribbs.usps.gov. Monthly updates on MERLIN readability scores will be posted on RIBBS.
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Barcode Type
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Percentage of Mailing achieving 90% and over
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POSTNET Letters
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95%
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Intelligent Mail Barcode Letter
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96%
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POSTNET Flats
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94%
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Intelligent Mail Barcode Flats
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93%
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Barcode readability verifications are routinely performed on automation price mailings using the Mail Evaluation Readability and Lookup Instrument (MERLIN). Samples from the mailing are processed on MERLIN and evaluated for mail preparation including presort and barcode readability quality. Based on verification results additional postage may be calculated. Mailers may elect to pay additional postage or withdraw a mailing that fails verification standards. |
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