Questions about Bulk Mail: Question: Is bulk mail worth the trouble? How much can I save by using bulk mail? Answer: It all depends on the size and frequency of your mailing. It also depends on the type of mailing; First Class or Standard(A), Nonprofit or Regular, Automation Compatible or not, with or without Carrier Route sorting, whether or not most of the pieces are going to the same area served by the post office where you will be dropping off the mail or not, and other such factors. Also, all pieces will not necessarily get the same rate.
It will depend on which type of tray or package the piece get sorted into. For a letter going to a Carrier Route served by the post office where you are dropping off the mail the lowest 'Automation' rate might be 14.7 cents for regular rate or 8.4 cents for nonprofit rate. The highest rate, for 'Non-Auto' pieces going to a distant city with very few other pieces for example, might be 28.2 cents for regular rate and 17.0 cents for nonprofit rate. Since you can download a fully functional copy BM-Win Plus for free, the best thing to do would be to sort your mailing list using BM-Win Plus and then print out the Postage Statement to see how much an actual mailing would cost you using bulk mail.
If you might be doing more than that one mailing per year, then multiply your savings by the number of mailings that you will be doing to see how much bulk mail might save you per year. Question: Where do I get a Bulk Mail Permit and how much does it cost? Answer: You must have a valid mailing permit before you can mail at presorted postage rates. You値l pay a fee when you apply and when you renew the permit every 12 months. You can apply for a permit any time. Just complete and turn in the application: Form 3615, Mailing Permit Application and Customer Profile. Form 3615 can be downloaded as an Acrobat file from the Post Office's Business Center WEB site.
Click here to download. (Click on the Acrobat floppy disk icon to save the file to your hard drive.) The normal fees are: For Doing Standard Bulk Mailings. Yearly permit: $225.00 Optional one-time fee to print your permit number on your mail piece instead of using stamps or a meter. See also: The Post Office's for more information. Question: Where can I buy a mailing list?
Answer: There are many companies that sell mailing lists either general or specialized. You can do a WEB search on 'Mailing Lists' to find many of them. The largest and oldest company selling mailing lists is Polk Co.
To see what they offer go to their WEB site. Question: What is the difference between CASS and PAVE software? Answer: CASS and PAVE are two different types of software which perform two different functions. PAVE stands for Presort Accuracy Validation and Evaluation.
PAVE certified software is bulk mail presort software that has been tested and certified by the post office for accuracy in doing different types of sorts and producing various types of postal documents. Presort software sorts your mailing list according to all of the rules and regulations of the post office and produces, among other things, the barcoded mailing labels, barcoded tray and sack tags, Qualification Reports, Postage Statements, and Setup Reports. BM-Win Plus has been PAVE Certified GOLD by the post office meaning that it has passed an extra battery of tests over and above the standard PAVE tests. The PAVE certification means that the post office has tested the software for a variety of sorts and documentation. The Post Office conducts PAVE Certification tests every year. Cycle R, which is the cycle for 2017-2018, is the most recent. Valid until (105 days) Jan.
15 April 30 July 15 Oct. 15 May 31 Aug. 15 June 28 Sept. 15 July 29 Oct.
28 May 15 Aug. 28 June 15 Sept. 30 Once a mailing list has been run through the CASS software a 3553 CASS Report is printed. The 3553 report must be presented to the Post Office at the time that you deliver your mailing. This report continues to be valid for future mailings for three months if doing Carrier Route sorting or six months for other bulk mail sorting. How often you might need to order new releases of the CASS database depends on how often you get new mailing lists and how often you do a mailing. The most you would need is one every 3 months.
This would ensure that you always had a valid CASS database in effect. This would cover you no matter how many or how often you received new mailing lists that needed to be CASS certified.
If, however, you are basically working with only one mailing list, you may only need two disks per year. The first disk is valid for three months and the 3553 CASS report is valid for the next three to six months after that. You would then buy the next CASS database right before the previous CASS report is expiring. Question: What are entry discounts DSCF, DBMC, and DDU and how can I get these discounts? Answer: You will normally drop off your bulk mail to the Post Office where you registered when you obtained your bulk mail permit. A Post Office can be either a Destination Delivery Unit (DDU) serving one 5-digit zipcode, a Sectional Center Facility (SCF) serving one or more 3-digit zipcode areas, or a Bulk Mail Center (BMC) serving many 3-digit zipcode areas.
If the Post Office of Entry where you drop off your mailing is either an SCF or BMC, the mail pieces that go to the 3-digit zipcode(s) served by that facility may qualify for an entry discount. If the Post Office where you are dropping off you mailing is a DDU and you have Carrier Route trays for the 5-digit zipcode served by that DDU, then, in a few cases, you may qualify for an entry discount.
DDU entry discounts for most types of mail, however, are not available. For more information see the Post Offices' Pub.
Click here to download Publication 49 (2889KB) Question: What are the different types of trays and sacks that a mailing must go into, which one(s) do I need, and where do I get them? Answer: Letter sized mail normally goes into, what the Post Office calls, a one-foot or two-foot MM trays. If your letter is oversized (greater than 10' wide or greater than 4 5/8' high), then these letters will go into EMM trays. Large non-letter sized pieces, such as 81/2' X 11' envelopes, are referred to as flats.
Standard (A) flats go into white canvas or plastic Sacks and First Class flats go into Flat Trays, also called First Class Flat Tubs. You can pick any of these up at the Post Office where you will be dropping off your mailing along with any other supplies that you may need to package your mailing such as rubber bands, tray sleeves, etc. If you want to know exactly how many and what type of trays or sacks you will need for your mailing, do the sort of your mailing list and then print out the Postage Statement which will have the quantity and type of trays or sacks needed for the mailing. You can then pick these up from the Post Office before printing your labels and packaging your mailing. For more information see the Post Offices' Pub. Click here to download Publication 49 (2889KB) Question: Where can I find out what all of these Postal terms and abbreviations mean?
Answer: Postal Publication 32 is a Glossary of Postal Terms. To download this publication click here (682KB) The Post office also has an interactive WEB site where you can lookup Postal terms and abbreviations at Question: Does the Post Office offer any classes about bulk mailing?
Answer: In many large cities there are Postal Business Centers which offer free classes on bulk mail as well as free Postal publications and other services. Even using automated software such as BM-Win Plus it is a good idea to get a working knowledge of the details of how a bulk mailing is prepared and packaged before doing your first mailing. To find the Postal Business Center nearest you go to Question: Are there any publications that would help me prepare a bulk mailing? Answer: The Post Office offers many free publications that can help you in preparing a bulk mailing. These publications can be obtained from the Post Office where you obtained your bulk mail permit, your local Postal Business Center, or on-line.
Especially helpful are: (1230KB) (821KB) (2889KB) (246KB) and the among others. To find the Postal Business Center nearest you go to To download the Postal publications on-line, except for the Quick service Guide, go to To download the Quick Service Guide on-line go to Question: Are there any rules about how I layout my address label? Answer: Yes, especially for automation compatible mail. Postal Publication 28 'Postal Addressing Standards' gives a complete explanation. This publication can be obtained from your local Postal Business Center or downloaded on-line. To find the Postal Business Center nearest you go to To download Pub. 28 on-line click here (821KB) Question: Does the Post Office offer any way for me to check the zipcodes in my mailing list?
Answer: Yes, the Post Office has two on-line zipcode lookup services. Click here to locate a ZIP+4 code for your address. Click here to associate ZIP Codes with city/state names. Question: Where do I get the trays, sacks, rubber bands, and any other materials that I need to prepare a mailing? Answer: The Post Office where you will be delivering your mailing has all of the supplies that you will need. If you don't want to guess at what size and how many trays or sacks that you may need for a mailing, use BM-Win Plus to do a sort and then print out the Postage Statement.
It will have the sizes and quantities of trays or sacks that you will be required. Pick everything up at the Post Office and bring it back with to to prepare your mailing. Don't forget the rubber bands, tray lids or sleeves, and straps. Question: What is eLOT and when would I need to use it?
Answer: eLOT stands for enhanced Line of Travel. ELOT data is only used when doing Non-Automation ECR Basic Carrier Route sorting. Non-Auto ECR Basic Carrier Route mail can be for either Letter or Non-Letter (Flat) sized pieces and is sorted not only by the Carrier Route number but also by the eLOT number which puts the mail more or less into the same order that the Postal Carrier travels when delivering the mail. Since CASS processing is usually done to get the cheaper Auto rates, most people don't need to use the eLOT database. It is useful, however, if you have Flat sized pieces and you want to do Carrier Route sorting. Question: What is DPV, LACSLink, and SuiteLink? Answer: DPV stands for Delivery Point Validation.
This is a method by which a specific address is validated. In the general CASS processing an address is considered valid as long as it falls within the range of addresses listed in the CASS database.For instance, the CASS database may give the range of valid addresses for Main Street in zipcode 77002 as being from 1000 to 1090. If you have an address in your mailing list of 1020 Main Street 77002, then the general CASS processing will consider this a valid address and assign it a Delivery Point Number even though there is a possibility that no such address really exists. DPV will double check that Delivery Point Number against another database to verify that 1020 Main Street 77002 is actually a valid address. If so, the CASS matching stands. If not, the address is not considered a CASS match and ZpClean Plus will return a code to let you know why the address was not matched.
LACS stands for Locatable Address Conversion System. LACS enables business mailers to update their rural-style addresses electronically with new, locatable city-style addresses in areas that are experiencing 911 emergency response address conversions.
Other types of conversions happen when local municipalities make changes to the addressing schemes or the Postal Service renumbers Post Office boxes. SuiteLink is a Post Office database containing business address information specifically identified as high rise default records. A 'High Rise Default' addresses is a street address for a company in a high rise office building without the secondary suite number. For instance '1030 Main' could be the street address of the Shell Office Tower building.
If you had an address for 'The Offshore Drilling Company' at '1030 Main', that address would be valid as the default high rise address but it is missing the suite number. With the SuiteLink database ZipClean Plus has the capability of appending the secondary number or suite number to a business address providing the input address is determined to be missing a secondary number. Still Have Questions?
Questions about BM-Win Plus Software: Question: BM-Win Plus is only $139.00 and other PAVE software can be over $2000.00! Why the difference?
Bmw Software Download
Answer: There are several reasons. The main reason is that we have chosen to keep the price low so that companies with small mailing lists can better afford to do bulk mailings. Even though BM-Win Plus can handle a mailing list of 1 billion addresses that is not our target customer.
The expensive PAVE software targets large companies as potential users and, consequently, usually offer sorting functions such as Pallet Load Sorting, Newspapers, Periodicals, Standard(B) Class Parcel Post, etc. Required by large companies. For the vast majority of bulk mail customers this is overkill and there is no need to be paying for something that you will not be using. Another factor is that the expensive PAVE software comes pre-bundled with a year's subscription of CASS software.
We have chosen not to pre-bundle BM-Win Plus with our ZipClean Plus software. By not selling ZipClean Plus only as a yearly subscription the user only pays for what they need, when they need it and at the best possible price. Question: Can I trust that BM-Win Plus will sort my mailing list accurately. BM-Win Plus has been tested extensively by the Post Office's PAVE department for accuracy.
PAVE stands for Presort Accuracy Validation and Evaluation. BM-Win Plus has been PAVE Certified GOLD by the post office meaning that it has passed an extra battery of tests over and above the standard PAVE tests. The PAVE certification means that the post office has tested the software for a variety of sorts and documentation. The Post Office conducts PAVE Certification tests every year. Cycle R, which is the cycle for 2017-2018, is the most recent.
Date last modified: Hardin-Soft, Inc. 1030 Honey Hill Dr. E-Mail: URL: (Mon.-Fri. 9:00 - 4:00 Central) Copyright © 1994-2018 by Hardin-Soft, Inc.
All rights reserved. All specifications subject to change without notice. The Hardin-Soft, Inc. Logo, ZipClean Plus, and BM-Win Plus are registered trademarks of Hardin-Soft, Inc. Other products and companies referred to herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or mark holders.
Why Choose Miracle? Ideal Accounting software must fulfill following requirements:.
Easy to Use. Flexible according to user's requirement. Scalable from Accountant to Large Industries. After sales service. Timely upgrades according to States and Central Government rules and regulations. Contemporary Advanced Technology.
Bm Software
Excellent after sales service, customizable entry and reports as well as timely upgrades are main reasons for popularity of Miracle accounting software. It is suitable for Accountants, Traders, Dealers, Distributors and Manufacturers.