Tech Forum

For at least the second time now I have specifically requested that the zip+4 and full length corresponding bar code be printed on donation envelopes that I have ordered. This time I ordered them for myself as a new bishop. CHQ has my full zip+4 address on file in all records. However, the envelopes come only with the 5 digit and shorter bar code.

I would think that whomever is inputting this for printing is just not bothering to input the whole zip+4 code. Regardless, it would be nice for this to get fixed as the full zip+4 does speed delivery and allows for more automated delivery of the mail and less error as these may need to be handled manually in the mail.

Thoughts?

Well, I hear you. You are correct that the mail is more automated.

But, it still gets there the same day, with or without the extra four digits. I wonder how much ink is being saved leaving the four digits and a few lines of barcode off -- could it possibly be enough to matter? I am sure a lot of envelopes get printed each week.

And I do not ever remember mailing a tithing envelope to a bishop. I usually just give it to one of his counselors on Sunday (or my wife does, when I am visiting somewhere else in the stake).

I have to side with macsense on this one. Our Ward is only a few blocks big, yet every week the Bishop gets donations mailed to him. I would imagine in a "regular" ward (I'm a Utah transplant, if you couldn't tell ) with much larger boundaries, the Bishop would receive even more.

IMHO, printing the ZIP+4, AND barcode, AND printing it ALL IN CAPS, and anything else we do to help automate the postal delivery system, MIGHT in some small way keep them from having to raise rates as often as they do. (OK, now I'm dreaming.)

macsense wrote:Thoughts?

Yes.

1. Outside of Utah where practically every mail piece is trucked to Salt Lake for sorting and then trucked back to what ever part of Utah it came from, these donation envelopes actually don't usually travel very far in the mail stream. Adding a POSTNET barcode only speeds up processing by a negligible amount in those non-Utah areas.

2. The POSTNET barcode is in transition to the Intelligent Mail Barcode called OneCode. Since ALL of these donation envelopes are mailed at full rate, upgrading to the new barcode on the donation envelope probably requires more financial resources to implement and maintain than it is worth for the Church to do (unless CHQ is interested in tracking the transit time of each donation envelope in the USPS mailstream).

3. If all these donation envelopes were mailed to CHQ directly for processing, that would be a different matter entirely. But they are not, So it is mostly a moot point.

4. FWIW, without the appropriate FIM, any POSTNET barcode is ignored unless you are dropping off at least 200 pieces of mail at the post office all at the same time, already facing the same direction. (Yes, I know, donation envelopes currently include a FIM.)