Group 1 Software Ready for Latest USPS Bulk Mail Standards

Published: April 11, 2006

by Alex Woodie

The cost of a stamp isn't the only thing changing at the United States Postal Service (USPS) these days. Later this year, the latest CASS ZIP+4 matching process requirements are scheduled to go into effect, and there's another new technology on the horizon called OneCode. These changes have the possibility of tripping up a company that does a lot of bulk mailing, if they're not prepared. One of the OS/400 ISVs doing the prep work is Group 1 Software, which is now owned by office machine giant Pitney Bowes.

Last week Group 1 announced the launch of two releases of its address correction technology, including CODE-1 Plus 3.0 (which runs on OS/400) and Finalist 7.8 (which runs on mainframe, Unix, and Windows). The Lanham, Maryland, company says the new releases will support the latest USPS requirements and carry the latest CASS certifications that will go into effect this August. Group 1 also says the new releases will benefit customers who are looking ahead to support the new USPS 4-state barcode initiative, or the "Intelligent Mail" system, also called OneCode.

The OneCode barcode was conceived several years ago as a way to get beyond certain limitations in the PLANET and POSTNET codes, which are used for sorting bulk mail. The four-state OneCode Solution (or OCS) barcode, the USPS says, would provide 2.5 times the data in a 13-digit PLANET barcode (or three times the data in an 11-digit POSTNET barcode), and would help by providing units of mail with a unique code that enables end-to-end process tracking and full visibility.