Why Didn’t My Mail Get Scanned? Did it Get Delivered?
March 29, 2021   Dave Lewis
This is probably not the first time I’ve written about this, and unlikely to be the last.  Mail tracking is not a perfect science, so interpreting the results correctly is important.  Very rarely will you see 100% of mail scanned to delivery. ...

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Our Most Important Core Value…All of Them
March 29, 2021   Dave Lewis
I was going to send an inspirational email out to our team, reminding them of our most important core value – but I couldn’t pick the most important…because they all are the most important! Like many companies, as we have grown from being a start-up...

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Looking for Trouble? Here’s How to Find It
February 24, 2021   Dave Lewis
The observant among you may have notice that USPS delivery performance was, at times, um… suboptimal during the last few months.  Yeah, that’s it – suboptimal.  It is indeed getting better as spring approaches, but remains...

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Understanding By/For as it Applies to Mail Tracking
February 24, 2021   Dave Lewis
A really brief history of MID’s and CRID’s Before 2006, when the Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) was introduced, there were no Mailer ID’s.  There were permits.  But the IMb required somebody’s MID in it, so the Postal Service decided that...

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Seamless Acceptance and Informed Visibility
January 21, 2021   Dave Lewis
Because 2020 was too easy a year for the mailing industry, the Postal Service has decided to up the ante in 2021 by throwing in an additional rate increase (maybe), and making Seamless Acceptance a requirement for Full-Service mail.  Whee! ...

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USPS Earned Value Promotion – SnailWorks Gets You Pennies from Heaven!
January 21, 2021   Dave Lewis
The Postal Service has a promotion this spring that can help you earn postage credits with almost no effort…well, at least no effort for you.  The Earned Value Promotion (EVP) rewards you for using Business Reply or Courtesy Reply envelopes in your...

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A Secret Tour of the SnailWorks Skunk Works
December 24, 2020   Dave Lewis
My favorite place to visit as I stroll the SnailWorks campus is the top-secret product development lab, or the Skunk Works as we like to call it.  Here you’ll find swarms of lab-coated mail scientists dreaming up new and better products for the...

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Woo Hoo!! SnailWorks Starts Up a New MID!
December 24, 2020   Dave Lewis
You know the problem with numbers?  There are only so many of them, and then you run out of numbers.  OK, I guess that is not technically correct – I have read there are infinite numbers available in the cosmos.  The Postal Service ain’t...

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What We Learned From the 2020 Election
November 18, 2020   Dave Lewis
I hope everybody enjoyed the election – we can hardly wait for the next!  Well we probably can wait.  Please make us wait. The Postal Service and the mailing industry played a big role in this election – both good and bad.  Suddenly...

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Political Mail STIDs and Tracking Advice
September 29, 2020   Dave Lewis
Political Mail STIDs and Tracking Advice So, here we are, about six weeks out from the election.  What’s the best way to track my political and election mail?  What STID should I use?  These are the worries that haunt a mailer’s heart...

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