Re: OT: USPS "informed delivery"

On Wed, 20 Nov 2024 23:23:29 -0700, Don Y
<blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote:

On 11/20/2024 10:45 PM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Tue, 19 Nov 2024 21:57:47 -0700, Don Y
<blockedofcourse@foo.invalid> wrote:
 

I think most mail is photographed as part of the address scanning
and routing process.  Humans don't do the sorting.

 
The USPS does not open a letter or package and photograph the
contents.

>
That wasn't what the above states.

Please re-read what I wrote:
"The USPS does *NOT* open a letter or package and photograph the
contents". 

Clearly, the "address" that is
scanned is on the outside of the package/envelope.  "something" has to image
the address label in order to identify, at the very least, the destination
ZIP code to route the item to the next step in the process.

Yes.  It's the tracking number that the USPS stamps on every 1st class
mail and package.  I'm not sure but I don't think they offer tracking
services to bulk mail users.  The codes and labels have changed over
the years:
"USPS eliminating legacy codes, revising forms"
<https://news.usps.com/2023/01/17/service-update-3/>
With the tracking number, the USPS can identify the source and
destination without having to open the envelope or package.

Note that the intelligent mail barcode does not include the
destination address, which is on a different label.
<https://www.tension.com/blogs/how-read-intelligent-mail-barcode-imb/>

As the location of the address on the item is not standardized,
it makes sense that the entire object would be imaged in order to
locate the information of interest.

The automatic mail sorters can read (using OCR) an amazing variety of
scribbled and illegible addresses.  For the few addresses that can't
be read, a photo of the illegible address on the letter or package is
sent to a remote encoding center, where real live humans perform the
functions of the reading the address and printing a readable bar code
on the package.  I'm not sure what happens if an address can't be
found.  I suspect there may be some special handling involved that
doesn't involved opening the package or photographing all 6 sides of
the box.

According to:
<https://facts.usps.com/systems-at-work/>
the USPS has 8,500 mail processing machines of various flavors.
Presumably, bar code readers and printers, to determine the routing,
are involved with every mail sorting machine.

The photo I receive from Informed Delivery is just the
package shipping label or the front of the envelope.  Most of the
photos are B&W while magazines are in color.
 
Note that Informed Delivery is also available for businesses:
<https://www.usps.com/business/informed-delivery.htm>
 
I found this document that describes how Informed Delivery might be
beneficial to both the sender and recipient for an "interactive mail
campaign".
<https://www.usps.com/business/pdf/informed-delivery-interactive-campaign-guide.pdf>
I skimmed the above PDF.  I don't understand it and don't want to read
it.  It might be of interest to a junk mail service.
 
 

>

--
Jeff Liebermann                 jeffl@cruzio.com
PO Box 272      http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann      AE6KS    831-336-2558