THINK TANK: What Else Do You Want Your Mailing Machine To Do?

[FNSBSDmailer]

In a previous post I lamented about not being able to use my barcode scanner to input required information for e-return receipt processing. While that issue is being addressed, there are some other related things I was wondering about. Bear in mind that the people I work with love certified mail and most of them believe the return receipt is required. So, I do a lot of certified.

When processing a letter, the first input asked for is the zip code. If the zip code is the same as the last letter processed then you can just hit enter and move on. Great! Next is the article number which, if you have a scanner, takes a fraction of a second then on to the next thing: customer reference. This field always comes up blank, and requires keyboard input. It would be great if this field was persistant the way the zip code field is. If I get 50 certified letters from the same person it is a real pain to enter their customer reference 50 times.

Then, after the letter gets metered the machine stops and asks me if I have another letter. That gets old after 50 times. Why can't the machine just assume I need to do another one and I'll tell it when I'm done?

And I don't get the option to use SBR mode for e-certified! When I'm doing regular certifed I can just load everything on the feed deck and let 'er rip. With e-certified I have to keep letters and flats separate. Not good when you process a flat and forget to reset it for a letter.

There does not seem to be any way that I can enable these things. Will a service call take care of it, or is there something about e-certified I'm not aware of that makes it necessary to go so slowly with them?

Help me out, PB!

[PB-MikeH]

Hey FNSBSMailer -

Thanks for your thoughtful suggestions!  We have some other suggestions for scanner-related improvements in our Think Tank section. What do you think about posting these thoughts there as well?  If you'd like, I can simply move this post to the Think Tank, or you can create a new one there if you want to amplify on your thoughts. Our R&D people really appreciate this input!

Thanks,

  Mike

[FNSBSDmailer]

Sorry to take so long to get back. I'm on vacation now.

Think Tank sounds like a great place to discuss this. Feel free to move this topic there.

[FNSBSDmailer]

Well, I'm back from vacation and I see that my posts have been moved to think tank. This is good.

The schools are now in session and I am anticipating an increase in requests for e-return receipt mail. I still have concerns about the relatively more complex method of processing of e-return receipt as opposed to regular certified:

1. Can we have intellilink meter remember last input for customer reference (as it does with zip code)?

2. Can we skip asking after every letter if I have another one? (OK, I'll admit this may be a tough one.)

3. Can we get ability to use SBR funtion when processing e-certified?

4. Can we get intelilink meter to accept barcode scan for account number/name?

I have said some rather harsh things in this and other posts, but we UPGRADED from DM800 to DM1000 and paid MORE for ability to do e-return receipt processing. It just doesn't make sense that things should be harder now.

Eventually the question about court acceptance of e-return receipt will be resolved and the green card will go away. We should be prepared for this.

Message Edited by FNSBSDmailer on 08-21-2009 08:24 PM

[FNSBSDmailer]

I'm curious about something.

This thread got moved to Think Tank so that a discussion could take place here concerning tweaking the intellilink meter head in order to facilitate more convenient e-return receipt processing.

That happened four months ago.

I come in here and I see; this post has been viewed over 400 times; that post has been viewed over 500 times...

Who's viewing these posts and, more importantly, why aren't you saying anything? It's a DISCUSSION forum. I'd like some other DM1000/1100/900/800 users to either back me up or tell me I'm all wet. I'd like some PB tech people to tell me that my suggestions are either impossible or in the works. I can't be the only person doing e-return receipt, or am I?

C'mon guys! Don't just read and leave. You gotta hand it to PB for giving us this opportunity. Let's use it.

There oughtta be a law: If you come into the Tank, you gotta tell us what you Think.

OK?

[PB-MikeH]

Thanks, FNSBSDMailer!! -- I second the motion 100%.  We'll get some more dialogue in here from he PB end too.

There's another way to participate too -- VOTE!  Just click the Kudos button on the ideas you like.  It will help us know which suggestions touch the most people.

  -- Mike.

[rocketman]

I'm reading but haven't replied because our courts have not yet embraced e-certified mail. I'd like to see what, if any, issues exist in processing it before it is green-lighted here.

[FNSBSDmailer]

I've run into this issue here in our school district. While some of our schools and departments have embraced e-certified, the resistors give mainly two reasons: a) I want a card back with a signature with real ink on it and b) I don't think the e-return receipt will hold up in court. There's also b2) The IRS won't accept it.

I believe from a legal standpoint there is no difference between the two. A signature is a signature and it doesn't matter if the ink is real or electronic. If you sign a card given to you by a carrier, that carrier is a witness. If you sign for the mail in a post office, they have cameras.

Can a e-return receipt be faked? Probably. Can a green card be faked? Yes.

Your electronic signature is good enough for VISA, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, etc. AND, an electronic signature seems to be good enough for the IRS when you're paying your taxes.

When this does go to court a good lawyer should be able to make the case.

Most of our return receipt mail is done in anticipation of a court case. My boss asked our attorney if we have ever needed to produce a return receipt in court. The answer was no, so we decided to save the $1.20/letter. I've been slowly winning more people over by telling them that if they want to do the the old-fashioned way they have to prepare the mail themselves and if they do it my way I do all the work.

Now, for me, the only problem is that, due to some technical issues that I have addressed elsewhere, e-return receipt processing way more work than the other way.

The Postal Service is working out the kinks with this service and you can bet the fee for the green card is going to triple because it's a labor issue. At that point I would hope that PB will have already made the minor changes necessary to make e-return receipt processing as quick and painless for mailing machine operators as the old, last century way.

[FNSBSDmailer]

Well, happy New Year everyone. I was able to take some time off between Christmas and New Year's Day and now I'm all refreshed and eager to get right back in there and work even harder! (Might have something to do with that wierd brand of coffee I got for Christmas. Good stuff. Really, really good stuff. Yeah)

So, I revisit here and discover that my original post has been "viewed" over 2,500 times now. I'm not sure what that means any more. I mean, it appears that the "viewers" just read and move on without comment, and if anyone from PB (other than Mike) is viewing this they are doing the same. One could conclude that this is a dead issue.

Yet, I come back to work and get back into my routine and eventually encounter these same frustrating issues that, in my mind, have relatively simple solutions that would be beneficial to anyone that uses these machines. Although the philosophy here is that we all answer each other's questions, the answers that I am looking for can only come from PB.

So I will now see if PB is really going to get more of their staff to participate here by (re)posing the following question: Why is the SBR function disabled when I process e-certified mail? Is it a memory allocation problem? Is it another problem that will be fixed if we get Budget Manager? Is it just my machine? Can it be enabled?

Anyone have an answer?

Anyone?