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Discussion => Shipping => Topic started by: antigrid on July 24, 2012, 10:20 am

Title: USPS automated mail sorting and OCR
Post by: antigrid on July 24, 2012, 10:20 am
I was reading over a particular post office locations website and saw that they had instructions on how to properly type/write address on the label so that the automatic machine could read it properly and it mentioned that it used OCR. Is all mail scanned this way, where the addresses are automatically read (digitally) by a machine and sorted? If so, are the addresses (receiving address or return address) looked up in any sort of database as they are scanned in to the system?
Title: Re: USPS automated mail sorting and OCR
Post by: digitbh on July 24, 2012, 12:23 pm
I doubt it. Most likely they're looking at zipcodes on the letters. If you're honestly that paranoid about using fake addresses on your shipments, just use a business' address as the return. Simple as that. No need to come up with fake addresses.
Title: Re: USPS automated mail sorting and OCR
Post by: iamonion on July 26, 2012, 04:09 am
They read from bottom to top.  First sort by country, Second sort by Zip, Third sort by street location and name.  I imagine the last two types of sorting must be dont VERY close to the destination.  It doesn't make sense to sort by street at the processing facility... so more than likely it isn't checked against a database.  The only way I could imagine that it would be found by name is postal worker recognition unless the name was otherwise flagged somehow.  Even then, I've never actually seen an accident of postal workers failing to deliver because of names.  I've seen postal workers put wrong address mail in the right name mailbox but thats it.
Title: Re: USPS automated mail sorting and OCR
Post by: kimbo on July 27, 2012, 03:18 pm
YES!  These machines look up addresses in the delivery point database.

If you did not print a postal barcode this machine has to print one on the envelope.  Sometimes this is in visible ink and sometimes it is in bright green ink.  Obviously for non-machinable envelopes the machine can't do this.

The barcodes do have serial numbers.  Basically I can take a barcode from a piece of mail and find out the last sorting machine that saw it and the date/time this happened.

The barcode also has your delivery point number (basically ZIP+4+extra 2 digits to identify the addressee mailbox) but this is in a separate field in the same barcode.
Title: Re: USPS automated mail sorting and OCR
Post by: kimbo on July 27, 2012, 03:26 pm
Correction, I just got some mail and the visible barcode in black ink only has the delivery point.  The green barcode is a serial number.

Those two barcodes were applied by the sorting machine on the same envelope.

The 4 level barcodes (has bars that are high, low, both or neither) do have the serial number and delivery point in the same barcode.  But these are usually not applied by the postal system.
Title: Re: USPS automated mail sorting and OCR
Post by: xx138xx on July 27, 2012, 03:37 pm
I'd like to add that not all those barcodes are being applied by the USPS itself. Delta airlines now carries the majority of mail sent cross country by air. They only recently brought in OCR sorting equipment that marks the mail like the USPS machinery does.

Interesting notes:
The major airlines all used to provide this service for the USPS but stopped earlier this year due to "not making any money from it". This happened to coincide with the sudden slowness of the mail delivery earlier in the year we experienced. Delta jumped back into doing it once the others stopped as it could now make a profit off the increased mail volume it was carrying, but was sorting mail by hand. When they added the ocr machines at the airport near me, our mail delivery times went back down to what they were before the slowdowns started.
Title: Re: USPS automated mail sorting and OCR
Post by: DankSources on July 27, 2012, 03:51 pm
Generally, the address could not exist at all within the city you are sending something to and it would get all the way to that local sorting center before they realized it does not exist and start looking to RTS. That was my experience, and a great way to loose a ton of product.
Title: Re: USPS automated mail sorting and OCR
Post by: flwrchlds9 on July 30, 2012, 07:45 am
much information is kept. there is service usps offer to business that can 'track' 1st class letters to ur door or very close.

lg business use this to see  when customers get the bills or verify u got bill.

many thing go on in background u dont know. be carefull.