Originally, the plan was to force the mailing industry to drop the old Postnet bar code and change over to the IMB in January 2009. Even though they have adjusted their schedule, you should begin planning. There are already many benefits you may wish to take advantage of. Currently, you can continue using Postnet until May 2010. It will still receive the base Automation discounts available with “Basic” IMB. “Full Service” IMB will receive an extra discount beginning in May 2009.
We’ll pause here for some definitions. Postnet is the old postal bar code that’s been around for years. This is the pattern of tall and short bars underneath the address, or down in the lower right corner. If you wanted to do tracking, you could also add a Planet bar code. This looked the same, but was usually placed on top of the address. If you wanted to use ACS (Address Correction Service), more codes, in text, had to be placed above the address. If this sounds ugly and crowded, it was. A lot of people avoided these advanced services for that reason alone. Here is an example address with Postnet, ACS and Planet codes. It’s not the sort of thing designers like to see on their artwork.
The Intelligent Mail Barcode has been in development for a while now, but has only recently started appearing on letters. It looks similar to Postnet, but has bars that go both up and down. It was originally called the 4-state bar code, and is now being renamed to the OneCode. Here is the same example address, with the same services, using the IMB.
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