Preparing for Seamless Acceptance
This article appeared in the May 2021 edition of NPSOA Magazine.
You may have heard about Seamless Acceptance and thought it only applied to large mailers. While that has been true to this point, with the May 1 deadline for mailers with an authorized Detached Mail Unit (DMU) and July 1 deadline for mailers who enter full-service mailings at a Business Mail Entry Unit (BMEU) to enroll in the Seamless Acceptance Program fast approaching, however, the time for smaller mailers to assess their own readiness for the program is here as well. Seamless Acceptance is a combination of a handful of different USPS initiatives that your organization is likely already utilizing to some extent – eInduction, Mailer Scorecard, eDocumentation (eDoc), and Intelligent Mail Barcodes. So, what can the current process teach the rest of the mailing industry?
One of the issues mailers have been experiencing with the transition to Seamless Acceptance is with undocumented pieces. At its core, Seamless Acceptance automates the induction process; clerks at the Post Office no longer need to physically approve Seamless Acceptance mailings. Instead, they rely on sample scans of the mailing to prove that the correct postage has been paid and that the mailing has been prepared properly.
Unfortunately, delays in service can lead to scans which fall outside of the timeframe where the USPS holds on to eInduction data, resulting in mailings which appear to be undocumented. Unfortunately when this happens, the USPS does not consider the undocumented pieces to be the fault of the mail owner; instead, the Mail Service Provider bears the cost of the error. Guarding against undocumented mailpieces by improving internal processes is crucial to save on paying for duplicate postage.
The reward for transitioning to Seamless Acceptance, however, is manifold. The financial incentive, as it currently stands, is for $.001 per piece, which is on top of the discount that the USPS already offers for full-service mailings. In addition, participating in Seamless Acceptance has many benefits for mail production service providers of all sizes. The program allows for more production time, flexibility in payment timing, less complexity in mail processes, and the ability to have your mail enter the mail stream without the need for an on-site acceptance clerk. Because much of the Seamless Acceptance program is done electronically, the need for paper sheets and slips is nonexistent, which helps keep the process efficient.
Adopting Seamless Acceptance might seem overwhelming for some; let BCC Software help you and your company meet the Seamless Acceptance requirement head-on – or prepare for its eventuality. Take advantage of the mailing software experts at BCC Software to help fill in any gaps in your process that you may find while transitioning to the program.
A Partner You Can Trust
At BCC Software we’re committed to helping printers to meet their deliverability goals. With over four decades of industry experience, our team of industry experts is active and involved in advocating for the needs of our customers. Backed by unlimited access to our legendary team of USPS Mailpiece Design Certified professionals, BCC Software is the smart choice in postal software. To learn more, call us at (800) 624-5234.
