Bureaucracy at work. Saving money? That’s right, the United States Postal Service is investing in new technology to automate the sorting of flat-sized mail pieces (i.e., most of the magazines we produce at Wax). The new Flat Sequencing Systems will sort more than 16,000 flat pieces per hour and pre-sort mail for carriers in the exact order it’s to be delivered, resulting in significant annual cost savings.
What does that mean for Wax and other publishers? To accommodate this effort for efficiency, publishers have to follow a new address placement standard effective March 29, 2009 or pay higher postage fees. Simple as that.
Or in more complicated terms from the USPS: “The entire delivery address must be within the top half of the mail piece. Optimal placement is as close to the top edge as possible (while still maintaining a 1/8-inch clearance from the edge). The postage (indicia) must appear to the right or upper right, and the return address must appear to the upper left of the delivery address.”
– Jozy Torres
