Presort Mail Step by Step

Presort Mailing

Six basic steps to a discounted mailing

• Step 1:
  Design your mailpiece. Whether you are using labels or envelopes, the design should conform to USPS regulations. The Postal Service has requirements for barcode placement, FIM code placement, permit indicia design and even the delivery address itself. For fastest delivery, be sure your layout meets these standards.
• Step 2:
  CASS-certify your addresses. In order to receive the discounted automation postage rates, addresses must contain the 11-digit Delivery Point ZIP code and corresponding barcode. To get this information, each address must be checked against the United States Postal Services' Address Matching System, which contains every delivery address in the United States - over 140 million records. The USPS requires that a mailing list must undergo address verification every six months (every three months for Carrier Route mailings). Once your address list has been CASS-certifed, you may also wish to purge any duplicate records from the list.
• Step 3:
  Presort your mailing list. Presorting the addresses according to USPS specifications is what gets you the lowest postage rates available. Sorting can be done manually, but it is a time-consuming and complicated task. Several bulk mail presorting software applications are available to do the sorting for you, so that the addresses are sorted to USPS specifications by the software and the mailpieces are printed in order, so that all you need to do is place them in the trays or sacks.
• Step 4:
  Print out your mailing pieces. Once the addresses are in presort order, you should print them out using the layout you created in Step 1. After they are printed, you can bundle them and put them in trays. Less-than-full trays and postacard-sized mail must be bundled into packages, with two rubber bands (one running top to bottom, one running left to right) holding the package together. Flats and Enhanced Carrier Route Line of Travel mailings also require packaging. All other kinds of mailings do not require bundling - they can be placed into trays as is. Your post office can provide you with the trays or sacks (flats go in sacks, everything else goes in trays). Make sure you place labels on all the trays or sacks. Some software packages (including ours) will print out the barcoded tray/sack labels for you.
• Step 5:
  Fill out the paperwork. The post office requires several forms be submitted with a bulk mailing - including the PS3553 CASS Report, which documents the address verification you did in Step 2, and the Postage Statement form, which documents the number of pieces in the mailing and the postage rates. Your presort software should make the appropriate calculations and print the completed Postage Statement form for you; otherwise it can be completed by hand.
• Step 6:
  Deposit your mailing at a business mail entry unit.

Savings via Presort

Using our presort software can get you significant postage discounts. Envelope Manager and DAZzle Express are designed to CASS-certify your addresses and presort your mailing for you. These applications then calculate your postage discount and display a summary screen showing the total postage cost for the mailing. Finally, our software will provide a printed copy of the completed USPS-required postage statement forms.

Standard Mail

In order to qualify for the discounted Standard (A) Mail postage rates (bulk mail rates), a mailing must meet several criteria:

• The mailing must consist of at least 200 pieces or must weigh at least 50 pounds.
• All of the mailpieces must be automation compatible. Automation compatible mail is mail that can be scanned and processed by U.S. Postal Service automation processing equipment, such as a barcode scanner. For this, each address must be CASS-certified and each mailpiece must have the full 9-digit ZIP code and barcode on it. By using the Dial-A-ZIP feature included in all of our applications, you can CASS-certify your addresses for free via the Internet.
• The mailing must be presorted according to USPS specifications.

Standard Letters

For Automation Standard Mail weighing 3.3 ounces or less (the most common mailing class and rate for bulk mailing), discounted postage rates per piece can be close to 50% less than mailing those same letters at the single-piece First-Class rate.

Nonprofit Rates for Standard Mail

If you are a nonprofit organization, your postage rates can be even lower.

First-Class Mail

By using our software, you can get postage discounts even if you choose to send your mailing First-Class. First-Class mail generally is delivered more quickly than Standard Mail, so you might choose to send your mailing First-Class if it is time-sensitive. In order to qualify for this First-Class discount:

• The mailing must consist of at least 500 pieces.
• Each address must be CASS-certified, with the 9-digit ZIP code and automation barcode on the mailpiece.
• The mailing must be presorted.

Discounts can be as much as 30% over non-presort rates.

Rejected Mailings

Your post office can reject a mailing for a number of reasons. Some common mistakes:

• Expired CASS certification - Always check the date at the bottom of your PS Form 3553 CASS Report. Since CASS certification of an address is valid only for 6 months, the date at the bottom of the PS Form 3553 is 6 months after the least-recently-certified address in your mailing list. If any of the addresses in your mailing were verified more than 6 months before the mailing, your mailing can be rejected.
• CASS certification for Enhanced Carrier Route mailings - Although regular mailings require CASS certification once every 6 months, carrier route mailings must be certified once every 3 months. If you submit any addresses that were not verified within the past 3 months, the post office can reject your mailing.
• No barcode, wrong barcode or incorrect barcode placement - A delivery point barcode is required for all pieces in an automated mailing. A standard POSTNET® barcode is not acceptable for automation-compatible mail. The barcode should be placed either above or below the delivery address.
• Presorting errors - The USPS has strict regulations concerning presorting for automation discounts. Simply printing your addresses in ZIP code order does not qualify your mailing for bulk mail rates.
• Incorrect AUTOCR or ECRLOT endorsements - Pieces being mailed at Enhanced Carrier Route rates must have these endorsements on them. If they are missing, or if you put these endorsements on pieces that don't qualify, the post office can reject your mailing.
• Stapling your mailpiece - Stapled pieces are not accepted for automation mailings because they harm the Postal Service's equipment. If you are mailing anything other than envelopes, use adhesive labels to seal them.

More information

For more information on USPS presort/bulk mailings, please see the USPS website.