Priority Mail: Training Your Staff on Mailing Services

Job Description for Graphic Designers

The basic mail piece design knowledge for a graphic designer or prepress technician is:

• The ability to size a mail piece correctly
• Construct and locate the address panel correctly
• Set up indicia for the correct postage classification
• To provide the correct ancillary service endorsement wording when told what endorsement is being used.

The USPS Publication 95, Quick Service Guide, and especially QSG 201 and QSG 301 are as useful for graphic designers as for CSRs, so you should order two copies for the Business Unit.

Be sure your designers have these tools (also available from the business unit):

• Notice 3-A, Letter-size Mail Dimensional Standards Template (other numbers could be PSN 7610-03-000-9053 or 1050251 Rev D)
• Notice 67, a template used in conjunction with “Designing Letter Mail”

Both are physical templates—plastic imprinted with everything needed to be sure a card- or letter-size mail piece meets physical characteristics and has the correct location and size for the address panel.

Wording and format for indicia can be found in QSG 604d and also at www.usps.com/send/postagepermitimprintsandmeters/howtodesignapermitimprintindicia.htm.

QSG 507d provides information about ancillary service endorsements, or go to www.usps.com/ncsc/addressservices/moveupdate/ace.htm.

Mailing Job Description for Database Technicians

The skills for a database technician are analogous to a prepress technician. They must be able to:

• Import a mail list in one of several file formats
• Analyze the list to be sure it is appropriate for the addressing task
• Check file structure and data hygiene
• Submit a list for move update processing and provide a report of results, including CASS and DPV failures
• Prepare the list for addressing

Advanced skills include the ability to merge more than one mail list and identify and purge duplicates using rules provided by the customer through the CSR, deal with foreign addresses, and improve mail list structure and data hygiene to give a better addressing results.

The best sources of training for database technicians are the software companies that provide mail list management software. Most have online tutorials and help desks, some have resident training classes, some have live online seminars, and some have listservs for users.

Job Description for Bindery Workers

Bindery workers are the ones who operate the bindery and mailing equipment needed to process a mailing: folder, tabber, inkjet addressing equipment (including dryer), and strapper. They may also deliver the mail to the USPS bulk mail acceptance unit that is located at the back of the post office.

USPS Publication 95, Quick Service Guide, and especially QSG 201 and QSG 301 will show bindery workers where to inkjet the address, where to locate tabs, and how many tabs are needed (depending on physical characteristics of the folded self mailer or booklet and where the final fold or spine is located). So you should order three copies for the Business Unit.

The bindery worker also needs to know the specifics about the bulk mail acceptance unit—what hours mail is accepted, how the clerk likes mail unloaded at the dock, and any other requests that the clerk makes of mailers. Train your bindery worker/delivery person to be polite and respectful of the clerk and to comply with all rules and requirements.

Mailing Job Description for Owners and Production Managers

The final job description is the easiest and the hardest: Keeping up with changing USPS requirements that affect mail preparation and postage. It is the easiest because the USPS provides a constant stream of up-to-date information about changes to the Domestic Mail Manual in its Postal Explorer website and through publications like DMM Advisory or MailPro.

Sometimes it is easier to search for information using a standard search engine rather than the search tool on the Postal Explorer site. If you preface a search string with “USPS,” you will often get a direct link to the Postal Explorer website or to www.usps.com in the first few returns from the search engine.