MTAC Workgroup 141 Spoilage and Shortage Reporting and Postage Reconciliation February 2011

Issue Statement  Identify the business needs for reporting piece spoilages or shortages occurring within business mailings using either hard copy or electronic postage payment processes.  Develop consistent standard operating procedures for the handling of spoilage and shortages during the verification and acceptance, postage payment and mail induction processes.  Identify the business processes for reporting and reconciling spoilage/shortages using hard copy procedures.  Identify the business processes, at a level sufficient to develop information system requirements, for reporting and reconciling spoilage/shortages using electronic mailing information supported by the USPS.

Desired Results  Develop standard operating procedures for handling spoilage and shortages  Recommend verification and acceptance procedures and policies including hard-copy and electronic documentation required  Recommend postage payment and postage adjustment policies and procedures including proper postage statement reporting in both hard-copy and electronic form  Recommend postal induction policies and procedures including proper 8125 completion and review

Progress  Workgroup formed October 8, 2010  Approximately 60 workgroup members  Bi-weekly conference calls  2 Face-to-face meetings  Target completion May 31, 2011  17 initial ideas/issues generated  4 initial recommendations

Level Set Exercises  Mailing Agreements  Different approaches  Different segments working on different %  Guide to Intelligent Mail – 3.7 Spoilage and Shortage 1.The postage for wasted and shorted pieces is paid on the postage statement (refund process involved) 2.The postage is adjusted on the postage statement so postage is paid for only the mailed pieces 3.The postage adjustment is reported as a dollar amount and piece count for the entire mailing 4.The electronic documentation in either Mail.dat or Mail.XML states only the pieces mailed  Four member workflow team formed

Next Steps  Review of feasibility of ideas/issues  Incorporate task group finding  Finalize list of recommendations  Submit to MTAC Leadership Team

Workgroup Leaders Paula Stoskopf Director of Product Management BCC Software 75 Josons Drive Rochester, NY / Wanda Senne National Director Postal Development World Marketing, Inc S Cobb Ind. Blvd., Smyrna, Georgia Bill Chatfield Classification Specialist Mailing Standards 475 L'Enfant Plaza SW RM 4446 Washington DC Audrey Meloni Business Systems Analyst PostalOne! ® USPS Headquarters Mailer Enterprise Integration Business Mail Entry and Payment Technologies

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