Mailers Access the Power of Mail.dat:
What Mailers of ALL Sizes Must Know About Mail.dat to Stay Competitive
Many presort programs can produce a Mail.dat® file that describes a mailing based on specifications set by the IDEAlliance®. For years, large mailers have used these files for transportation planning and to create postage documentation that describes what is actually mailed. After presort, larger jobs often are split up into multiple drops or require spoilage adjustments-as a result, the original postal paperwork generated by the presort program does not usually reflect the job that is actually mailed. These mailers bring the Mail.dat files generated by the presort program into a Mail.dat® editing software in order to change the data electronically and produce statements that reflect the final mailing.Mail.dat increases operational efficiency for mailers of all sizes:
Software developers like Window Book have come up with applications that use Mail.dat® files in new ways to solve various problems encountered in mail production, documentation, or transportation. Smaller mailers and non drop-ship mailers should also take advantage of Mail.dat® solutions. Preparing floating batch or itemized manifests of First-Class or Standard Mail are examples of innovative Mail.dat® applications. Window Book&'s Dat-MailT program can even reduce the postage by the exact amount of the spoilage as detected by intelligent inserters.
Mailers of all sizes can bring Mail.dat® files into Dat-Mail Editor, schedule drops, then pass the data to Software Marketing Associates' PRO-MAIL® 5 software to complete work tickets for these mailings without manual data entry. When Dat-Mail creates postage statements, the final postage is updated to PRO-MAIL 5's postage accounting system. In the near future, the ability to interface to a variety of job shop and accounting systems will distinguish the best Mail.dat® software from the rest.
Mail.dat® software is turning into the 'middleware' that acts as the interface between the various systems used by mailers. It creates the bridge between the presort program and all the production and management systems in house. It also represents an important bridge between the mailer, the mailer's clients, the transportation company, and the USPS.
Mail.dat as the bridge between Mail Owners and Mailing Agents:
If the mailing agent is using Mail.dat® files to generate postage statements either on paper or via electronic submission to PostalOne!, those same files could be sent to the mailer's clients-the Mail Owners-to allow the clients to audit their own postage without keying in data. A program like Window Book's EZ Postage AuditT, for example, gathers electronic postage data from Mail.dat files and other sources for CAPS Reconciliation.
Mail.dat as the bridge between mailers and transportation companies:
When mailers use an outside consolidator or transportation company for drop-shipped mailings, they can supply the transportation company with a Mail.dat® file, which is used to create the most efficient drop-ship plan by pooling the mail with mail from other companies.
What most mailers don't realize is that they can request a copy of their updated Mail.dat file back from their transportation company. With a Mail.dat® program like Dat-Mail Editor, mailers will know, based on the transportation schedule determined by the transportation company, when each drop will need to be shipped to make in-home delivery dates and on which trailer each pallet will need to be placed. Mailers can print all postage statements, 8125's, and production reports with the revised data-they can even print sack, tray, and pallet tags to reflect the final drop-ship plan. The efficiencies created by this two-way exchange of Mail.dat® data between transportation companies and mailers are remarkable but, today, are still underutilized.
Mail.dat, the key to unlocking the USPS Confirm and PostalOne! programs:
This two-way Mail.dat data exchange between transportation companies and mailers will grow in importance as mailers begin to require accurate induction scheduling information from the transportation companies to meet new Advance Shipment Notification requirements for participation in the US Postal Service's Confirm program.
Submitting Mail.dat® files to the USPS for electronic acceptance and verification purposes as well as electronic postage statement submission for Standard and Periodical Mail is now possible through the USPS PostalOne! program. It is also possible to add information for the USPS's Confirm or Entry Info programs to a Mail.dat file-PostalOne! will forward this data, eliminating the need for a separate upload.
Conclusion:
Though a Mail.dat file is created early in the production process by a presort program, it can lead a long and useful life if it is used to facilitate mail production, transportation, USPS program participation and transmittal of final postage information to the mail owner. To learn more about the benefits of Mail.dat, please contact Window Book.