The short answer is "probably
not" -- for normal outgoing mail (i.e., not specially designed
"business reply" or "bulk" mail, or mail
that is not specially pre-sorted). But see below.
There has been a lot of discussion
over the past few years on various Corel news groups, Compuserve
forums, and elsewhere about whether bar codes help speed individually
mailed letters (in contrast to bulk mail -- trays of business
reply mail and courtesy reply mail).
In any case, among other requirements
it seems bar-coded envelopes may need a Facing Identification
Mark (FIM) -- the vertical alignment marks you see on commercial
return envelopes at the top of the envelope near the postage
stamp area. Otherwise Post Office equipment may be "blind"
to the user-entered bar code.
Update (03/02/07)
-
From the United States Postal
Service at http://www.usps.com/businessmail101/misc/discountsBarcoded.htm
-
"Barcoding your mail may
entitle you to a lower postage rate, but ONLY if all the other
requirements for automation postage rates are met. A barcode
alone will NOT qualify your mail for automation rates.
In general, the Postal Service
recommends that, unless you are preparing a mailing for automation
rates, you should NOT put barcodes on the mailpieces. As long as the mailing address is correct,
your mail will still be processed efficiently without a barcode—and
you won’t need to worry about having the wrong barcode on
your mail. A bad (incorrect) barcode is much worse than no barcode
at all. A bad barcode can cause your mailpiece to travel to the
wrong destination. ..."
|
If you still think you need
them:
Update (08/24/05) -
Here's a quote from the United
States Postal Service Publication 25, March 2001, pp53-55
(http://pe.usps.gov/cpim/ftp/pubs/Pub25/pub25.pdf):
Description
The facing identification mark (FIM) is a pattern of vertical
bars printed in the
upper right portion of a mailpiece, to the left of the postage
area. A FIM pattern
is essentially a nine-bit code consisting of bars and no-bar
placeholders. The
presence of a bar can be considered a binary "1" (one);
the absence of a bar, a
binary "0" (zero).
The FIM patterns currently used
translate into these binary codes:
FIM A: 110010011
FIM B: 101101101
FIM C: 110101011
FIM D: 111010111
Use
Determine which FIM to use (see Exhibit 5-3) as follows:
FIM A is used for CRM [Courtesy Reply Mail] and MRM
[Metered Reply Mail] with a preprinted barcode.
FIM
B is used for BRM [Business Reply Mail] without a preprinted
BRM ZIP+4 barcode.
FIM C is used for BRM with
a preprinted BRM ZIP+4 barcode.
FIM D is used
only with information based indicia (IBI) postage.
Purpose
The FIM uses a code that tells automated processing equipment
some of what it
needs to know to do its job. The FIM allows automatic facing
(orientation) of the
mail for cancellation (postmarking). The FIM also identifies
reply mail that bears
a preprinted barcode. Barcoded mail is then routed directly to
a high-speed
barcode sorter, bypassing slower manual sorting or optical character
reader
(OCR) processing.
FIM Standards
Make sure the FIM meets the following standards:
The
FIM clear zone must contain no printing other than the FIM pattern.
Exhibit 5-4 shows the configuration of the clear
zone and the correct location
of the FIM.
The rightmost bar of the FIM must
be 2 inches ± 1 /8 inch from the right edge of
each mailpiece.
The FIM bars must be 5 /8 inch
high ± 1 /8 inch and 1 /32 inch wide ±0.008 inch.
The tops of the FIM bars must
be no lower than 1 /8 inch from the top edge of
each mailpiece. They may extend over the top edge to the flap.
The bottoms of the FIM bars should touch the bottom edge of the
FIM clear
zone but must not be more than 1 /8 inch above or below that
edge. [Italics
mine. The non-printable area for most printers -- which,
for most lasers, is 1/4 inches -- means a FIM that is added by
your printer probably will be too low!] ...
And so forth and so on. Doesn't
look too useful for the average piece of personal or business
mail, does it?
I've tested sending ordinary
letters across town and across country -- with bar codes and
without (but not with a FIM-A mark), and with codes placed above
as well as below the mailing address -- and haven't seen any
significant difference. So I don't use them -- but your experience
may be different.
If you want to print a FIM-A
mark, you could use the
macro in the footnote at the bottom of this
web page.
Update (11/14/03)
- Jack Waananen, Corel C_Tech,
reports:
The barcode feature is useful
if a mailer delivers the envelopes to the USPS
already "faced" (oriented in one direction) in first-class
trays or bulk-mail bundles -- presorted by zip code.
For individual envelopes tossed into the mix with other mail,
the barcode without the FIM (Facing Identification Mark) is not
useful.
Update (04/04/02)
- For more information see
the US Postal Service site at http://www.usps.com/
(enter "Publications" in the Search field) or get Publication
25, "Designing Letter and Reply Mail," a 4MB (PDF)
file directly downloadable from the USPS site at http://pe.usps.gov/cpim/ftp/pubs/Pub25/pub25.pdf.
It contains information on automation, POSTNET bar codes, FIM
marks, etc.
Update (1/21/00)
- From the Bizfonts
site: "... The FIM (Facing Identification Mark) font is
a special font used by the US Post Office to separate Business
Reply Mail from other mail. The FIM font consists of four
unique bar codes; each bar code represents a unique reply
mail classification as defined in the graphic image above....
"
Here's a snippet from a page
from Corel's Knowledge Base
relating to WPWin6 but should apply to all versions of WPWin:
"POSTNET Barcode And WordPerfect
Software
DocumentID: 632828
Revision Date: 2/29/96 3:03:06 PM
The information in this document
applies to:
WordPerfect® 6.0 for Windows®
...POSTNET barcodes are one of
the requirements for postal discounts....There are a number of
factors beyond the certified software and printers that are required
to gain postal discounts. The Bulk Mail Entry Unit is the department
at the post office where mail is taken that qualifies for any
bulk mail discounts. Again, contact your local postal representative
for details.
The postal
service will not use the POSTNET barcode to route the postal
piece if it does not have a Facing Identification Mark (FIM). [Italics mine.] A FIM is a set of graphics
lines located to the left of the postage stamp. Common postal
pieces that use FIMs are business reply cards. (FIMs are used
on other postal pieces as well.) If the postal equipment finds
a FIM (with stamped mail), the postal piece is routed through
cancellation equipment, then sent to a POSTNET barcode reader.
If no FIM is found, the postal piece is routed to an Optical
Character Reader (OCR) where the address block is read from the
bottom up. Postal equipment sprays a POSTNET bar code in the
lower right corner of the postal piece. (This is why a postal
piece may have two POSTNET bar codes.)
Metered letters do not go through
cancellation equipment. The meter date is considered a cancellation.
All metered letters (unless mail is entered at the Bulk Mail
Entry Unit) is put on the OCR for processing.
The POSTNET barcode can be placed
in three different locations. The preferred location is in the
lower right corner of the envelope. The second best position
is above the address block, and the third option is below the
address block. If no FIM is found on the envelope and a POSTNET
barcode is used, it should be placed above the address block.
The OCR reader reads the address from the bottom up. If the mail
piece does go to the OCR and another barcode needs to be sprayed
on the mail piece, it will be placed in the lower right corner.
The POSTNET barcode should be
11 digits. (Check with your Postal Representative for information
about how to identify the last two digits. Basically, they are
the last two numbers of the primary street address, such as 55
for 1555 Technology Way.) The ZIP Code in the address block should
be the ZIP or ZIP+4. The tenth and eleventh digits should not
be included in the address block. These last two digits must
be entered manually since WordPerfect software does not identify
and automatically add the last two numbers of the primary street
address in the barcode field. It is recommended to use one field
for the ZIP+4 and another for the 11 digit POSTNET barcode when
using a WordPerfect Data Merge file or a DataPerfect database.
The address block should:
Print within a certain area (defined as the OCR read area on
Notice 67 template)
1. Use a readable font for the optical reader (San Serif fonts,
see Publication 25, Table 2, page 25)
2. Be all uppercase
3. Have no punctuation (A hyphen "-" is not considered
punctuation and therefore can be part of the address block where
appropriate.)
4. Use standard abbreviations (see Publication 28, Appendix F,
pages 73- 74).
Those who are interested in specific
information should contact their local postal representative.
Publications 25 and 28 are free items....
Here is a snippet from a public
message on a Compuserve forum:
"...Most of the time unbundled
mail (i.e. first class mail not already in trays) goes through
the machinery to add the postnet codes anyway, even if already
on the envelope. Envelopes with FIMs are rerouted but those without
are not. The operator, who has his headphones cranked up and
is working by autopilot, will key in the barcode information
automatically, even if the envelope already has it.
So, my understanding is that it is not worth the effort to barcode
letters if (1) they do not have FIMs and (2) they are not in
trays (minimum 200 pieces)."
And another from a Corel newsgroup:
"... Also note that bar
codes are really only useful on faced mail in first-class trays
(i.e. mail placed in the USPS trays all facing the same direction)
that can bypass the encoding process OR on unfaced (random envelopes)
that have facing marks -- the vertical lines to the left of the
stamp that you see, for example, on your utility company return
envelopes.
In other words, bar codes on
random envelopes without facing marks are not useful. Mail one
to yourself and you will see that the USPS has added their own
bar code at the bottom...."
Stay tuned....
Barry MacDonnell's