Monthly Updates to Presort Data

Agenda• What is Presort Data?

• History of Update Schedule

• Important Terms to Understand

• The New Schedule

• Transition to The New Schedule

• What Mailers Need to Know

• Scenarios

What is Presort Data?

• Tells presort software how to create trays, sacks and pallets

• Lists which facilities can qualify for drop-ship discounts

• Used in postage calculation

• Presort data is provided in several USPS® files:– Labeling Lists

– Mail Direction File

– Zone Charts

– Delivery Statistics File

– City/State File

Previous Update Schedules

Prior to 2013 2013

Four updates of both labeling lists and mail direction

Two additional Mail Direction File updates

15-day notification and 30-day transition window

Labeling lists updated six times per year

Mail Direction File released daily

75-day transition window

Terms and Definitions

• Publication Date

• Notification Period

• Effective Date

• Transition Window

• Expiration Date

• Induction Date

* Note: Appendix A provides a description for each of these terms.

New Schedule

• Presort data files published monthly– First business day of the month

– AIS products will be the 15th of previous month

• 30-day notification period followed by a 30-day transition window– Software providers have five business days to publish data

electronically

– Mailers will have ~three weeks of notification period

• 30-day transition window

New USPS Release Schedule

2014 Labeling List and Mail Direction File Schedule

 

AIS Files, Publish City State Files*** (date available on EPF)

Publish Date of Labeling List, Zone Matrix and Drop Ship Product, Files**

City/State, Label List, Delivery Stats, Drop Ship Product, and Zone Matrix Begin Usage Date

City/State, Delivery Stats, Label List , Drop Ship Product, and Zone Matrix Mandatory Usage Date

City/State, Delivery Stats, Label List, Drop Ship Product, and Zone Matrix Expiration****

Accept 8125 of Old Address

Release Cycle Types*

1 11/11/2013 12/15/2013 1/1/2014 2/1/2014 4/30/2014 5/30/2014 ALL

2 12/16/2013 1/15/2014** 1/26/2014      FSS Labeling

List/Drop Ship

3 2/10/2014 3/15/2014 4/1/2104 5/1/2014 7/31/2014 8/30/2014 ALL

4 5/12/2014 6/1/2014 7/1/2014 8/1/2014 9/30/2014 10/30/2014 Major

5 7/14/2014 8/1/2014 9/1/2014 10/1/2014 10/31/2014 11/30/2014 Minor

6 8/11/2014 9/1/2014 10/1/2014 11/1/2014 11/30/2014 12/30/2014 Major

7 9/15/2014 10/1/2014 11/1/2014 12/1/2014 12/31/2014 1/30/2015 Minor

8 10/13/2014 11/1/2014 12/1/2014 1/1/2015 1/31/2015 3/2/2015 Minor

*Major = major changes to labeling lists (3-digits, 5-digits (schemes), Minor=tweaks to existing 5-digits (schemes)** A special release of the zone chart matrix and drop ship product file will be available on January 2 and January 15 (respectively) to align with the January 26 price change.*** Intended usage to align with pre-sort directories****Current through October 2014, expiration is based on current postal validations occurring. After October 2014, the expiration will be based off of mail induction.

Result: New Schedule

• Any one data set will be valid for two months

• Three data sets will be available on any given month– Notification data set (for mailing dates beyond the current

month)

– Current active data set (for mailing dates this month or next)

– Expiring outgoing data set (no longer valid at the end of the month)

• It is no longer possible to presort 90 days prior to mail induction

New Schedule Overview

August September October November December

USPS Release 5

Notification

(used for planning Sept

or Oct mailings)

Current data set

Outgoing data set

USPS Release 6

Notification

(used for planning Oct or Nov mailings)

Current data set

Outgoing data set

USPS Release 7

Notification

(used for planning Nov or Dec mailings)

Current data set

Outgoing data set

Other Things to Know

• What determines a valid data set?– Currently: mailing date (mail verification)

– After October PostalOne! release: actual mail induction date

• Mailing errors based on eDoc data, not data set used– USPS error threshold not set

• Less risk with minor updates– Only 5D scheme tables updated (L006, L007, L012, L606)

– September will be a minor

Scenario #1

On August 1 a presort job comes in that is scheduled to be inducted on October 31. Can I do this presort?

USPS will have just published the September data on August 1

September data is valid until October 31

September data won’t be available from your vendor until ~ August 8

Answer: No, you will need to wait at least a week to run the job

Also note: If there is any possibility of the mail induction date sliding, then you really should wait until October data is available, which is valid

until November 30

Scenario #2

On September 10 a presort job comes in that is scheduled to be inducted on October 17. What data sets are valid?

Valid Option #1: September data Published August 1, effective September 1 and expires on October 31

Valid Option #2: October data Published September 1, effective October 1 and expires November 30

Impacts in Production

Does it change my process ?

Mail

Date

Ship

Date

Acceptance Date

In-home Date

Postage D

ate

Induction

Date

No problem, I’ll just update my software on time• Updates are now once a month !

– Do you test releases

– Will you need multiple lists active at one time

• Is your software the only source of the data in the process or do you have multiple products ?– Presort -- Co-mail / co-palletization

• You or 3rd party

– Mail.dat manipulation tool

– Logistics supplier

• How are they being kept in sync ? Do they have to be ?

Scenario #3

• Goal is for Induction Date of Mar 30– Presort on Mar 22 using Current (B)

– Assign entry points on Mar 24 using Outgoing (A)• Pay postage, create 8125’s, hand off to logistics vendor

– Delivery on Mar 30 is OK

– Oops, missed a shipment … delivering on Apr 1• OK if logistics vendor re-computes physical entry point using either new

Outgoing (B) or new Current (C).

• 8125 is acceptable even if for the old location

January February March April May June

A Notification Current Outgoing 8125 addr B Notification Current Outgoing 8125 addr C Notification Current Outgoing 8125 addr

or take risk that eDoc data is unchanged

Scenario #4

• Goal is for Induction Date of Apr 1– Presort on Mar 25 using Notification (C)

– Assign entry points on Mar 28 using Current (B)• Pay postage, create 8125’s, hand off to logistics vendor

– Logistics vendor changes physical entries using (C)

– Delivery on Apr 1 is OK

– Oops, want to deliver on Mar 31 • Unable to change due to presort done using Notification …

• Or take the risk that eDoc data is unchanged

January February March April May June

A Notification Current Outgoing 8125 addr B Notification Current Outgoing 8125 addr C Notification Current Outgoing 8125 addr

Scenario #5

• Goal is for Induction Date of Apr 2 and May 2, one production run– Presort on Mar 25 using Notification (C) - only list to use

– Assign entry points on Mar 28 using Current (B)• Pay postage, create 8125’s, hand off to logistics vendor

– Logistics vendor changes physical entries using (C)

– Delivery on Apr 2 and May 2 is OK

– Oops, want to deliver on Apr 30 vs May 2 • No problem

January February March April May June

A Notification Current Outgoing 8125 addr B Notification Current Outgoing 8125 addr C Notification Current Outgoing 8125 addr

Key’s to Success

• Keep as up to date on label lists as possible

• Be prepared to support multiple labeling lists for each step in the process

• Schedule what lists to use from Induction Date(s)

• PLAN, PLAN, PLAN …

Q&A

Appendix A: Terms and Definitions

• Publication Date– The date that the Postal Service™ publishes the new data set to the

industry. This serves as the start of the notification period.

• Notification Period– This is the time between the publication date and the effective date.

During this timeframe, the new data set has been published to the industry, but it cannot be used for mailings being submitted to USPS.

• Effective Date– The first day that it is valid to enter a mailings to USPS that has been

prepared using the new data set. Also referred to as the begin usage date.

• Transition Window– The time between the effective date of the new data set and the

expiration date of the currently active data set. During this time, both data sets are valid to be used for mailings that are being submitted to the Postal Service.

Appendix A: Terms and Definitions

• Expiration Date– The last day the data set is valid. Currently, PostalOne! determines if a

mailing is using an expired data set based on the mailing date that the mailer has specified in their electronic documentation (this is also when postage is paid). • NOTE: With the October release of PostalOne!, the expiration will be based on

the mail induction date.

• Induction Date– The date where USPS takes control of the mailing.

• For mailers that are not drop shipping, the mailing date and induction date are the same day.

• For mailers that are drop shipping, the induction date is the day the mail is unloaded off of the truck at the Postal Service entry facility.