Dear Valued Customer:

As you may be aware, the United States Postal Service recently announced plans to move forward with the first phase of checking address accuracy using MERLIN (Mailing Evaluation Readability Lookup Instrument). Beginning January 17, 2004, your mail may be subject to an address accuracy verification that includes checking the ZIP+4 (flats) or ZIP+4+2 (letters), which is assigned by software that performs CASS (Coding Accuracy Support System) coding of your mailing list.

Initially, we believed that this would not be problematic since the MERLIN system would only be checking for '0000', '9999', duplicating, incrementing or decrementing + 4 codes. After all, the Postal Service’s intent is to stop mail fraud and prevent mailers from claiming automation discounts incorrectly. Unfortunately, it has taken on a high degree of importance since the presence of even one address with a '0000' or an invalid '9999' in the + 4 field will forfeit the automation discount for the entire mailing.

We would like to encourage you to contact your CASS provider to review their practices and to ensure compliance. For your convenience, click here to access a more detailed description of the errors and associated consequences. Quebecor World cannot be held responsible for lists that are CASS-certified by outside suppliers.

For those of our customers who utilize Quebecor World Mail List Technologies (QWMLT), please be assured that our coding practices have been reviewed and our output has been confirmed as compliant with the USPS requirements. Should you need assistance in CASS coding of lists, please feel free to contact Joel Weber, Vice President of Sales, QWMLT at 630-438-2281. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Anita Pursley
Vice President of Postal Affairs
Quebecor World Logistics