What Is Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMb)?

Key Takeaways

• An Intelligent Mail barcode is a 65-bar USPS barcode that is used on pieces of mail and flats.
• An IMb contains encoded information that the USPS can use to help identify and route mail during processing.
• Intelligent mail barcodes are an important component of qualifying mail for USPS automation postage pricing.
• A lettershop or mail-service provider can generate and apply the IMb for a commercial direct mail campaign.

Introduction

If you were to check your mail right now, you’d probably find a piece of mail that has a barcode on the mail piece. That barcode isn’t random, it’s what is known as an Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb). That barcode plays an important role in determining if your mail piece is eligible for automation pricing for your direct mail campaign, as well as providing information that can help with mail visibility as your mail travels through the postal network.

What Is an Intelligent Mail Barcode?

An IMb is a 65-bar barcode that is used on letters and flat packages. Unlike a traditional barcode that you might find on an item at a grocery store that uses thick and thin vertical lines, an IMb uses bars of different positions and heights. These vertical strips are encoded with binary information that can help the USPS to identify, process, and route the piece of mail.

What Information Is Contained in an Intelligent Mail barcode?

There are several fields that are contained on every IMb. The main pieces of the IMb are the:

How Does the USPS Use the IMb?

As a piece of mail goes through the processing equipment that USPS uses, the barcode can be read by the machinery. The encoded information can help the USPS to identify and route the mail piece through the postal network.

Is an IMb Required for Automation Mail?

There are requirements that the USPS has published that mail needs to follow to qualify for automation mail pricing for postage. Letters and flats prepared for USPS automation pricing are required to have an IMb. However, remember that the mail piece needs to fit the other qualifications that the USPS has published, and that mailers can’t just put an IMb on a badly designed piece of mail to qualify for automation pricing. Learn more about those qualifications for automation mail postage pricing on the USPS official website here.

Can an IMb Track Direct Mail?

While an IMb is able to provide tracking and mail-visibility information, it shouldn’t be mistaken with package tracking. A mail processing scan doesn’t mean that your mail has been delivered to its recipient, but it can provide insight into various services that USPS offers. Services such as USPS Informed Visibility can help provide information about the mail piece as it moves through the various processing stages, and can help to estimate things such as:

• When portions of your mail have been processed by USPS equipment
• How portions of your mail are progressing through the network
• When your mail is approaching its destination for delivery

What Is Informed Visibility?

USPS Informed Visibility Mail Tracking & Reporting, its official name, is a service that the USPS offers that can provide mailers with visibility data that is based in part on the mail processing information that was discussed above. Informed Visibility shouldn’t be confused with Informed Delivery, however. The two are different.

Informed Visibility – mailer-facing mail tracking/visibility data.

Informed Delivery – recipient-facing preview of incoming mail.

Does Every Mail Piece Have the Same IMb?

Not necessarily. Commercial mailers can use unique IMbs to help identify individual pieces of mail, and unique barcodes are required in certain scenarios, including Full-Service Intelligent Mail.

Does the IMb Contain the Recipient’s Address?

Not exactly. An IMb doesn’t simply contain the recipient’s full address and name in binary. However, its routing code can contain the recipient’s full nine digit ZIP Code and other delivery point information that is associated with the delivery address. The barcode also contains information that is related to the postal services that are being used and information regarding who the mailer is.

FAQ

• Q: What does IMb stand for?
  • A: IMb stands for Intelligent Mail barcode.
• Q: Can I track direct mail with an IMb?
  • A: IMb scan data can be used to provide additional visibility into a mail piece’s progress through USPS processing, but IMb isn’t the same as package tracking, and doesn’t necessarily confirm final delivery.
• Q: Who puts the IMb on my direct mail?
  • A: A lettershop or mail-service provider are usually the ones who will generate and apply the barcode as part of addressing and postal preparation.
• Q: To receive automation postage prices, do I need an IMb?
  • A: Yes, qualifying automation letters will require an appropriate IMb along with meeting the other USPS automation requirements.

Conclusion

The Intelligent Mail barcode is an important part of modern USPS commercial mail processing. The Intelligent Mail barcode gives the USPS encoded information that can help in identifying and routing mail, help qualify mail for automation eligibility, and provide mailers and campaign managers with enhanced visibility into their direct mail campaigns.

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