USPS files rate case for Confirm tracking system

The U.S. Postal Service on April 24 filed for a new mail classification and flexible pricing proposal with the Postal Rate Commission for its Confirm service. Confirm allows senders or recipients to track delivery of their bulk mail.

The Postal Service considers Confirm an important element of the transformation plan it unveiled earlier this month. After nearly six years of failed postal reform efforts in Congress, the USPS hopes its transformation plan will lead Congress to rewrite the 1970 law that created the agency, allowing it to be more flexible in its pricing, service offerings, and labor negotiations.

The proposal calls for Confirm to be offered on a subscription basis, with three pricing options based on usage. The technology in Confirm not only gives bulk mailers information on where their mail is in the mailstream, but it also provides the USPS with operations data. Confirm information will be available to mailers electronically online or by direct download into their computer systems.

In a statement, Anita Pursley, vice president of postal affairs for catalog printer Quebecor World Logistics, which took part in a Confirm pilot test, said that Quebecor’s catalog clients are using Confirm data “to manage their fulfillment and call center resources more effectively and are realizing significant cost savings. Quebecor uses this data to more effectively achieve our clients’ in-home delivery expectations.”