Colleges and Universities

The processing of incoming mail in college and university mail centers actually involves the handling of several distinct mail types with their own peculiarities. The three primary mail types involved in incoming are:

  • Accountable mail such as FedEx, UPS or USPS Express Mail
  • White mail, such as postcards, letters and flats
  • Interoffice mail that employs re-useable envelopes

Accountable mail is typically processed using a manual procedure that logs each received package, performs a manual address lookup, creates a signature slip for proof of delivery and files the signed slip by date on delivery is completed. When a recipient doesn't receive an expected item, or at least can't locate it, the mail center staff must perform a search through perhaps hundreds of such filed slips, which can consume an hour or more. The MailTrak product automates each of these steps and provides electronic signature capture so all items can be researched on-line. Automation of the process not only reduces the time devoted to the tasks, but provides a less error-prone system that reduces misplaced items and customer complaints.

The manual processing of white mail has a number of shortcomings, including the amount of labor required to sort the mail within a relatively narrow delivery window. As an example, to process 10,000 daily items in 8 hours, five full-time sorting personnel are typically required due to the two-pass sortation method used. Because it can read and sort mail at more than 10 times the rate of a human, the ID Mail Dispatcher applies itself directly to the labor cost issue within the mailroom. With its ability to feed, code, print and sort letter, flats, Tyvek and polywrapped items, the Dispatcher allows the majority of incoming white mail to be processed automatically, which reduces the labor expense.

Learn more about ID Mail Dispatcher Corporate Mail Volumes