IMB Based Tracking

What is Intelligent Mail® Barcode (IMB)?

Intelligent Mail® Barcode (IMB), the USPS mandate formerly referred to as the 4-State Customer barcode, is used to sort and track letters and flats. The Postal Service is promoting use of the Intelligent Mail barcode because it expands the ability to track individual mailpieces and provides customers with greater visibility into the mailstream. Mailers have the option to use the Intelligent Mail barcode on letters and flat mails for the Confirm® Service, referred to as OneCode Confirm™ and a version of Address Change Service™ (ACS™) called OneCode ACS™. This makes it a valuable part of an Enterprise Address Mail Management strategy. Since this IMB code can contain a unique identifier, this innate code can be utilized to provide the piece level information to APT.

For detailed information on how to populate the Intelligent Mail® barcode, please access the Intelligent Mail® barcode specification and Technical Resource Guide from http://ribbs.usps.gov/onecodesolution/

Automated Production Tracking with IMB
APT tracks every mailpiece throughout all production steps. The tracking is based on the unique ID on the mailpiece. This unique ID can come from a regular 1D or 2D barcode such as Code 128, PDF417, Datamatrix, or QR Code, etc. However, since USPS mandates IMB on all mail pieces, user definable digits within the IMB can also provide the document processor with the character spaces to populate the piece's unique identifier for piece level tracking purposes. Most commercially available camera systems decode and verify IMB codes just as they do 1D and 2D barcodes.

The USPS uses IMB to track mail during the delivery process. APT can utilize the IMB during print & mail production processes for closed loop integrity and productivity reporting.

The key benefits using Intelligent Mail® Barcode (IMB)-based APT include:

  • Comply with USPS requirements
  • Multi-purpose piece level identification
  • Piece level tracking and reporting without adding additional identifiers to the pieces
  • Leverage existing piece level tracking systems and workflow to manage SLA and customer communications
  • Automate the reprint and recociiation process

TransPromo Support with IMB and APT
Since the IMB is unique to both the mailing and the addressee, mailers can utilize the IMB code to point back to a database for response tracking and to measure the effectiveness of direct mail campaigns.