Hello MarkyMark!
Thanks so much for your question!
As long as you “keep using this service”, i.e., your partnership with a presort bureau, you don’t necessarily need to “worry” about the Intelligent Mail® barcode… that is assuming that your presort bureau will be able to meet the USPS® May 2011 Intelligent Mail® barcode mandate requiring the IM™ BC for automation prices . (Today, the Intelligent Mail® barcode as an alternative to the POSTNET™ barcode for automation prices.)
That said, many mailers are reevaluating their mailpiece generation and mail finishing processes to determine if bringing their mail “back in-house” makes good business sense. Part of that consideration is the added discount with the Full Service option of the Intelligent Mail® barcode as well as in-house control and taking full advantage of the entire postal discount. You may also want to consider the other Intelligent Mail® services that you may can incorporate into your mailing applications, such as OneCode ACS™ and OneCode Confirm? Can your presort provider provide those services to you?
So far now, unless your mailstream objectives change, you're probably pretty good to go! But stay tuned and keep the lines of communication open with your outside mail service!
Kind regards,
Elizabeth
