Admin Corner

Has your company switched from the "Green Card" to e-Certified and e-Signature services? How did your legal department react to this idea? Have you been seeing all of your delivery confirmations?

These have been some of the hottest questions on the Forum. Switching to e-Certified can save your company money, but many of you have found that the process can be a rocky path!  Here are some comments from the Forum:

Karios: Occasionally, I could verify on the USPS website that the article had been received by the PO, but there was no record that the article had been delivered (when, in fact, it had been delivered).

readn10: With the amount of return receipts we do, it will save us several thousand dollars per year. My problem is convincing the attorneys to let go of the green card.

2MuchPaper: We have been using the electronic return receipt for close to two years now.  It is a great cost saver....This method has worked well and our attorneys approve as well.

If you're thinking of trying out these services for your company but aren't sure how to get started, there are several informative threads on the Forum. Browse or search through them to pick up tips from other Forum users. Here are some starting points:

• Certified letter, signature files and E-Return Receipt 
• eCertified 
• Certified/E-Certified
• Certified Mail  from Ask the Expert - Elizabeth Lombard: Postal Rules and Regulations

Pitney Bowes' postal regulations expert, Elizabeth Lombard, points out that e-certified and certified aren't the only ways to get confirmtion that your mail was delivered: "You really need to consider what the objective is when you add an Extra Service such as Certified Mail, Registered, Delivery Confirmation, etc.  There are a lot of ways to get delivery information, but some of these clearly cost more than others!"

Find Out More at Our Next "Ask the Expert" Forum

If you want to find out more about e-Certified and other USPS Extra Services, bring your questions to our next Ask the Expert Forum, July 28-31 on Using the Right USPS Extra Service to Meet Your Mailstream Needs.  Elizabeth Lombard and Jeremy Canfield will provide answers.

Lori Bovalacco is our Guest blogger today with a wrap-up of what she learned on the 2009 Rate Change Roundtable -- thanks, Lori!!

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1. Communications - the consensus is that most of you received a letter and/or email notifying you that the new rates were available for download
2. Instructions - many of you stated our written instructions were better understood than in the past, that they were "more clear" and "easy to understand"
3. New price displayed on effective date - for those who processed the download prior to the effective date, the new rates were present on your meter on May 11 without having to do anything.  This is great! This means that most of you have your meter set to a "class", for example 1st Class Reg.   Because of this, you'll never have to change the meter display (Normal Preset Setting) again when the Postal rates change, you'll just have to process the download.

1. Update took too long to download - for most of you who experienced this, it appeared that a software version update was being processed along with the new rates.  This is the reason for the extra time which caused some inconvenience for those who waited to the end of the day, on a Friday and wanted to go home.  I recommend that whenever your meter displays there is an update or add on available, you should always go through the process so that your meter will be up to date with the latest software version.
2. Restart meter or meter got stuck - many times when a software version is updating or rates are downloading, you may need to power cycle your meter.  This can take longer than we want due to modem speed and the volume of meters trying to connect to the data center.  We do, however, offer some connection solutions such as connecting your meter to your PC as well as having a dedicated LAN line.  You can find out more about these solutions from your local Pitney Bowes sales representative.
3. Rates should update automatically - Guess what?  This is exactly what we're working on today.  We'll keep you posted.

By now, the May 11 USPS postal rate change has come and gone and everybody's system is up to date and displaying the correct rates... right??

This is where social media like Forums really shine. On a phone support line, the customer service representative may give the same answer to person after person, one at a time.  On the Forum, our most popular question - How to Update Postage Rates on Your PB Equipment - was viewed over 57,000 times. Talk about "one-to-many"!  On average, each answer on the board was seen about 750 times. That's a big lever.

So, when you ask a question on the forum and get an answer, you're not only helping yourself - you're helping a lot of others as well. And it seems to be working: our 2009 USPS Postage Rate Change board has had over 355,000 views since we launched it last December, peaking right around the rate change date itself.  Hopefully, those of you who needed help found what you were looking for!

The biggest win for everyone comes when users answer each other's questions. Who can give you a better answer than someone else who has "walked in your shoes"? The moral of the story? -- Share your wealth!  You almost certainly have knowledge that someone else needs right now.