WD: Obtaining a CASS Certified Number for a Mailing List

MORE INFORMATION

A CASS certification service or program confirms an address list against the post office's address list and ensures that the addresses contain proper address locations. The certification service or program then produces a 3553 form; the customer submits the 3553 form to the post office when he or she does a bulk mailing. Once the bulk mailing list is CASS certified, the customer may receive a discount on the bulk mailing postage. This discount applies to quantities of 200 or more addresses.

To get an address list CASS coded, do any of the following:

• Call the National Customer Support Center (NCSC) at (800) 238-3150. NCSC will do a one-time-only CASS coding of up to 50,000 address records at no charge. The process generally takes three to four weeks.
• Call the NCSC at (800) 238-3150 and ask for a CASS Certified Vendor List. Use one of the vendors to get the address list CASS coded. (This service is not free. Each vendor has its own price.)
• Buy one of the CASS Certified Address Matching Programs (available in the vendor list mentioned in the previos option) and a subscription to the U.S. Postal Service's ZIP+4 database (also handled by the NCSC), and CASS code the list that way. This option requires a CD-ROM drive.

With any of these methods, you will be given (or the address-matching software will produce) a Postal Form 3553. You must present this form to your local post office each time you do a bulk mailing to receive the bulk mailing discount.

How Does Microsoft Word Fit into This Process?

Once you have gotten the address list CASS coded, you can run the list through the Word mail merge feature to generate the bar coded envelopes you need for an additional bar code postage discount. The only discounts now available are for the 11-digit or delivery point bar code, which Word generates using ZIP+4 ZIP Codes. This discount applies only to letter-size mail. You can obtain additional discounts by sorting the address according to the local "Manager or Rates and Classifications" specifications. Contact your local post office and ask for these specification to get the latest information about postal rates.

NOTE: The NCSC does not have any information on rates. To obtain postal rate information, you must contact the local post office and ask for the "Manager of Rates and Classifications."