Thwarting MERLIN and the Post Office

Print Action, Sep 2004 by Bolte, Clint

Government acronyms occasionally take on a life of their own, particularly during the initial shakedown phases for new systems and procedures. Such is the case with the mailing evaluation readability lookup instrument (MERLIN), built under exclusive contract to the United States Postal Service (USPS) by Bell & Howell.

If MERLIN is as successful as the USPSand quite likely most U.S. mailers - hopes, in its ability to evaluate the quality of addresses and print product entering the mail stream, it is only logical to assume Canada's public sector mailing system will adopt a like version. It may be identical to MERLIN, which is also designed to cap escalating postage costs.

Printer/mailers in Canada sending product through USPS, on behalf of their Canadian global corporate clients, do not need to worry about MERLIN unless they are trying to qualify for quantity and standardization discounts from the USPS.

If there is any volume to the project, and therefore project discount incentives, it would clearly be in the best interest of printer/mailers in Canada to enter the U.S. segment of their project distribution via a U.S. partner and into a U.S.-based business-mail entry unit (BMEU). But let us first begin with the basics to understand what exactly is going on.

Just as the printing industry passed along substantial typesetting savings to those clients who wrote and designed their own material prior to printing, the USPS will offer discounts for mailing projects using its specifications. The goal is to ensure that individual addresses are standardized and that the entire mailing can run through the automated sorting equipment with minimal hiccups. The USPS has now implemented procedures focused around MERLIN to verify barcode readability and consistency along with a number of other direct-mail manual (DMM) standards criteria. Better preparation of the mail and good consistent quality attainable by all vendors is good for the industry and will lead toward lower USPS costs.

Some 1,200 MERLIN units have been installed at BMEUs throughout the nation. The units are owned and operated by the USPS and their own employees. Here is how the grading system works. If the MERLIN read-rates from a testing sample of a job equal or exceed 90 per cent compliance, then the entire job receives the full automation rate applied for. If the read-rate is between 80 and 89 per cent, then a partial adjustment is made to the discount, which calls for additional postage being paid.

For example, if the read-rate is 84 per cent, then additional postage is assessed on 16 per cent of the entire single rate mailing. If the read-rate falls below 80 per cent, then the entire mailing loses the automation rate and is charged the higher, applicable presort rate.

Not every job is run through MERLIN but those that are follow this sampling guideline. If the job has more than 10,000 pieces, then 1,000 are run through MERLIN. For less then a 10,000-piece job, 500 pieces are run through MERLIN. For flats, the minimum number of samples is 15 if each item weighs less than or equal to five ounces in a 5-digit sort.

An appeal process exists whereby the printer/mailer can send the appropriate sample quantity by USPS Express Mail to the designated Bell & Howell facility in Wheeling, Illinois. Regardless of the results of the original MERLIN test, the appeal test is final. That is, no averaging the two results or picking the better of the two. The single appeal test rules.

The DMM standards for barcode placement include: (1) an eighth inch minimum clearance around the entire address either in the window or on the label or piece; (2) 1/25 inch minimum clearance above and below the barcode; (3) the barcode has to be at least a 1/2 inch from the edge of the piece; and (4) the barcode must be in the specified a clear zone, which is at least 5/8 inch from the bottom of the piece. A template is available from USPS that illustrates these parameters.

The Mailing and Fulfillment Service Association (mfsanet.org) has been actively involved in monitoring the progress of the MERLIN implementation, hosting symposiums and webinars on leading-edge BMEU case studies. The site serves as a clearinghouse for concerns as expressed on its web chat list, and being one of the dedicated industry sources for current information on USPS rulings and updates on DMM.

In one of these webinars Wanda Senne, the postal affairs manager for ACE Marketing Service, spoke of the lessons her firm learned in arriving at a disciplined program to assure that they passed the MERLIN tests. For their Scitex InkJet unit the following procedures were put in place (obviously similar criteria can be confirmed for every other inkjet unit). (1) Ensure that the print head is level and perpendicular to the edge of the piece. (2) Confirm the fluids installed in the printer are approved for use in that model. (3) Lower the print head as close as possible to the piece. (4) Verify the phase and voltage settings. (5) Adjust resolution and print density to enhance visual print quality. (6) Select Postnet font (only OCR readable fonts) with characteristics appropriate for the job. (7) Assure 22 bars per inch plus or minus two. For example, 120-dpi resolution would have a range of 20 to 24 bars per inch.