San Diego Postal Newsletter June 2007 Vol. 1 Issue 3

Ben Speaks Out!

Bug Ben with your postal questions, he is hard to stump.

We dug up Ben Franklin, the 1^st Postmaster of the USPS, to help us out with some of the grave issues facing the postal industry today.

Dear Ben:

This shape base pricing rate change is for the birds. Can’t we just continue to send our mail out the way we always have? -Hopeful in Jamul

Dear Hopeful:

What kind of American are you? You do want to be in compliance, don’t you? To be very clear, my friends down at the USPS Office of Inspector General define fraud as, “Any knowing deception designed to unlawfully deprive the United States of something of value or to secure from the United States for a benefit, privilege, allowance, or consideration to which an individual(s) is not entitled.” So if you decide to send out your mail without compliance to the new shape based pricing rules, you are deciding to commit fraud.

That’s up to you; however consider this, “Postal Inspectors initiated 202 new investigations related to postal revenue in FY 2006. They arrested 80 suspects for revenue-related crime and reported 50 convictions in the same period, some from cases initiated in prior reporting periods. Civil settlements, voluntary restitution, and court-ordered fines, penalties, and restitution totaled more than $2.3 million in FY 2006.” - Postal Inspectors Website

I would suggest that you contact your mailing equipment vendor (I am told that San Diego Postal and Shipping Equipment is a reliable one) they can help to educate you on how to comply with the new regulations.

Where the heck is Jamul, anyway?

Dear Ben:

What do the numbers mean in a Zip+4 code? - Dizzy in Descanso

Dear Diz:

You dug me up for this?

So you really want to know this tantalizing tidbit of information designed to astound your friends, tickle the brain cells and confound the confused? Here is my best shot…

The ZIP+4 code added a hyphen and four digits to the existing five-digit ZIP Code. The first five numbers continued to identify an area of the country and delivery office to which mail is directed.

The sixth and seventh numbers denoted a delivery sector, which may be several blocks, a group of streets, a group of Post Office boxes, several office buildings, a single high-rise office building, a large apartment building, or a small geographic area.

The last two numbers denoted a delivery segment, which might be one floor of an office building, one side of a street between intersecting streets, specific departments in a firm, or specific Post Office boxes.

Is Descanso anywhere near Jamul?

Dear Ben:

What does the Forever Stamp look like, and why do they call it the “Forever Stamp”? Is it because you can take it off a received letter and use it over and over again? -Phil A. Telist

Dear Phil:

Go back to the first answer…

The Forever Stamp is so named because you can purchase the stamp one time and use it one time for domestic mail only. Not much different than regular stamps huh? But here is the kicker, you can buy the stamp and NOT use it, go though a few dozen rate changes and then you can STILL use it for 1 oz of first class mail.

However, you try that trick you mentioned in your question and you will wind up in the BIG HOUSE! They don’t need any stamps in there.

Here is a photo of the stamp as designed by Carl T. Herrman, Carlsbad, CA:

Don’t try to use this particular one on any mail. u

Tech Tips - Noah Martin, Manager Technical Service

For commonly used rates use the job memory function built into each Hasler WJ machine. Simply set up the job exactly as if you were going to run it and follow the directions contained in your user’s guide. (Look under “Memory Functions” or “Programming Memories”. For more assistance go to the Hasler Customer Knowledge Base

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