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STIDS: Service Type Identifiers on Intelligent Mail, Class of Mail and other services

A key part of the Intelligent Mail® barcode (IMb) is the Service Type Identifier (STID). (See the green area in the figure below). The STID identifies three major characteristics of a mailing: the Intelligent Mail option, the class of mail and any additional services being requested by the mailer. Mailings may consist of multiple STIDs: for example, there may be a combination of Full-Service, Basic Service and Non-Automation pieces in a single mailing.

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USPS Intelligent Mail Option

The first mailing characteristic identified in the STID is the Intelligent Mail option. There are three choices here:
  1. Full Service - For mailers wishing to claim the Full-Service postage discounts on qualifying mailpieces
  2. Basic Service - For mailers with mailpieces which cannot meet all of the requirements for Full-Service, but still wish to take advantage of some of the benefits of the IMb on their mailpieces
  3. Non-Auto - For mailers with mailpieces which do not qualify for any automation discounts.

Class of USPS Mail

The class of mail is the second characteristic identified in the STID. Currently First-Class Mail®, Periodicals, Standard Mail® and Bound Printed Matter are eligible for participation in Intelligent Mail.

Additional Services Requested

The third characteristic identified in the STID is any additional services requested by the mailer - and here is where the STID starts to get tricky. Some of these additional services have fees associated with them and some are specific to certain classes of mail. Each service or combination of services has a specific code to be used in the STID. There are a variety of address correction services available, as well as mail tracking services (Confirm®). Available services are:

  • No services
  • Manual address correction
  • Traditional ACS™
  • OneCode ACS®
  • Full-Service ACS
  • OneCode Confirm®
  • Manual address correction with OneCode Confirm
  • Traditional ACS with OneCode Confirm
  • OneCode ACS with OneCode Confirm
  • Full-Service ACS with OneCode Confirm.

STID Cautions

It is important that mailers analyze the available additional services and their corresponding fees, if any, so that the correct services are selected. It is also important to note that since these additional services are being requested by means of a barcode, any mailpieces with unreadable barcodes will not receive the additional services requested. If mailers also print human readable information on the mailpieces in addition to the IMb, any pieces that have unreadable or invalid IMb's would then be subject to the full costs of the requested additional services. For example, the free ACS service provided under IM Full-Service will no longer be free if the barcode cannot be read or is invalid, and the mailpiece includes a printed ACS participant code, keyline and ancillary endorsement.

For more information regarding STIDs and how to determine which STIDs are appropriate for your mailings, consult the USPS® PowerPoint presentation IMb Services: Service Type Identifiers or The Guide to Intelligent Mail for Letters and Flats.