How do I add delivery barcode to an envelope for Word 2007?

[Ed]

I used to do it in a previous version. When I go to where it used to be the
option does not show. I am confused by the solutions I have seen on the WEB.
Please help.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Microsoft removed this feature because the POSTNET codes produced by Word
were no longer USPS-compliant. See "The POSTNET bar code that Word generates
no longer qualifies for USPS bulk mailing discounts" at
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=897290. You can still insert a BARCODE
field manually, but it's somewhat pointless (I still do it out of habit).

 

[Ed]

Thanks Susan,
I was informed that the inclusion of the bar code reduces postage handling
and therefore reduces the lag time for the item. Any thoughts? Is there any
easy way to convert a zip+4 into a barcode? Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Ed

 

[Jay Freedman]

For directions, see
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...710951e6bba2?hl=en&lnk=st&q=#b376710951e6bba2.

I'm curious about who informed you that a Word-printed bar code reduces lag
time. Was it a Postal Service employee? Are you sure they were referring to
a POSTNET code and not one of the newer codes? Did they say, or even imply,
that the reduction in lag time was significant?

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Ed]

Jay,

Thanks for the quick response.
It was in fact a postal employee who advised me of this. I am not sure if
he was in fact referring to a POSTNET code, but he did say that any items
that posessed any such tag would be processed through the sort process 'much'
more quickly. The only reason I ever used this feature was beacuse I
'thought' I could get more time-sensitive correspondence to it's destination
more quickly. Was I wasting my time?

Thanks,
Ed

 

[Jay Freedman]

I don't know whether there is a significant reduction in processing time for
individual mail pieces if you supply the bar codes -- that's why I asked what
you'd been told. I've occasionally searched the Postal Service site at
www.usps.com and never found an unequivocal statement.

I have read that the large mail sorting facilities have very high-speed machines
that can read addresses and apply a bar code, but I don't know whether all mail
is processed that way. I also don't know what the difference in processing time
might be between precoded and uncoded mail pieces -- but I suspect it's less
than a minute unless the address contains a mistake.

 

[grammatim]

(In which case the human operator will probably get it right, and the
machine will probably get it wrong.)

 

[Jay Freedman]

Well. that assumes there is a human operator, and that anyone notices the
mistake before it goes out the door. We recently mailed a package from
Pennsylvania to Oregon, and the USPS tracking site told us that it went through
the Honolulu sorting facility. :-(

 

[grammatim]

I expect the machine to kick a problem out as unreadable.

Honolulu doesn't seem unreasonable (especially if Inouye or Akaka
hadn't gotten any pork in a while); supposedly everything sent via
FedEx passes through Nashville (or have they meanwhile set up some
sort of regional hub system?).

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

FedEx's hub is Memphis, not Nashville.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

I expect the machine to kick a problem out as unreadable.

Honolulu doesn't seem unreasonable (especially if Inouye or Akaka
hadn't gotten any pork in a while); supposedly everything sent via
FedEx passes through Nashville (or have they meanwhile set up some
sort of regional hub system?).

 

[grammatim]

FedEx's hub is Memphis, not Nashville.

I've been in one of them twice and the other one nonce.

Never, ever in Alabama, though!

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I've never been in Memphis except to fly through the airport (it is also the
hub for Northwestern). Partly that's due to having grown up with the
prejudices of two Middle Tennessean parents who didn't believe there was
anything good in either East or West Tennessee. <g> I have been in Nashville
many times, most recently to inter my parents' ashes in the family plot
there (Nashville was my father's home town).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

FedEx's hub is Memphis, not Nashville.

I've been in one of them twice and the other one nonce.

Never, ever in Alabama, though!

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Ed,

The MS Word implementation (created back in Word v6 [Word 2007 is v12]) does not do DPC (Delivery Point Code) addressing correctly
in all cases. This is a newer coding system than the zip+4 system that was implemented.

As was pointed out new scanning equipment can read printed envelopes and in most cases handwriting far better than the 1st
generation automation equipment in use a decade ago

The POSTNET barcoding discount was dropped by the US Postal Service; the coding didn't support other countries and that's where a
lot of the growth in future sales will come in<g> and MS dropped from Office the matching batch mailing/envelope tools after Office
2000. With the increase in email and onscreen collaboration over postal mail (in volume and number of users <g>) MS made the
business decision to not invest further in that aging feature that was introduced with Word v6, although there may be a more robust
(and properly functioning tool) in a future version

==============
Thanks Susan,
I was informed that the inclusion of the bar code reduces postage handling
and therefore reduces the lag time for the item. Any thoughts? Is there any
easy way to convert a zip+4 into a barcode? Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Ed >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*