Requesting, reporting and verification system and method for mail carrier payment

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RELATED CASES

Attention is directed to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/459,418, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,306, filed Jan. 2, 1990 and entitled Mail Piece Weight Quality Control System and Method U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/594,515 entitled Method and Apparatus for Preparing Validated Mail Tray Labels and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 641,985 filed Jan. 16, 1991, now abandoned, and entitled Automated Labeling System.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Throughout the history of the post office, there has been a gradual evolution whereby the post office encourages mailers to prepare their mail in such a way as to reduce the effort required on the part of the post office for processing such mail. As an inducement to the mailer to prepare the mail in such a way so as to bring about faster mail delivery, the post office offers mailers a discount on such items as presorted mail and printing of 9 digit zip codes. Discounts are also given when the mail is produced in a manner allowing automatic processing with machines such as optical character recognition (OCR) sorters and bar code readers and sorters.

Even with present mail processing techniques that have come into being as a result of reduced postage rates for presorted mail, zip code mail and the like, the post office is still experiencing difficulties in meeting targeted delivery times for the mail. The primary reason for such difficulties is the increase in volume of mail that has taken place over the decades.

Systems and methods have been conceived and described wherein the efforts required by the post office to process mail has been reduced. One of the problems the post office faced previously was that a significant amount of mail presented to the post office did not have the required postage or did not meet the requirements of postal regulations. A scheme for overcoming this problem was disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/594,515, supra. In this patent application, a scheme is disclosed whereby mail is processed in such a manner that the mail is sorted to separate the local mail from the out of state mail, the out of state mail is placed in trays in accordance with their zip codes and a label is printed that identifies the mail in the tray for subsequent routing. As a part of this scheme, the post office is given a running account of the mail being processed so that the postage can be accurately determined and the post office is able to process the mail further without having to inspect the same to assure proper payment. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 641,985, supra, discloses a system whereby labels can be printed for the tray and the sacks into which mail is placed for a common carrier, particularly an air carrier.

Although the concepts described in these two patent applications addressed areas where implementation of activities on the part of the mailer would benefit the post office, there are still many areas where the amount of effort required by the post office can be reduced.

In the processing of mail, mail that is being processed by a mailer to obtain postal discounts is still sent to the post office. This includes non local mail that is subsequently forwarded to a mail carriers for delivery to postal distribution centers. Certain functions are performed within the post office after delivery of such mail to calculate the transportation costs, particularly the payment that must be made from the post office to the common carrier. The amount of payment is dependent on the weight and destination of the mail handled by the common carrier. As a result, mail is still processed through the post office and takes time and space away from the post office. Clearly, it would be advantageous if a scheme could be implemented whereby mail that is not within the servicing area of a local post office does not require handling by such post office.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A scheme has been devised whereby a mailer processes mail in such a way that mail that is not addressed locally is conveyed directly to a common carrier with sufficient information conveyed to the post office to allow the post office to verify the mail and to determine the fee to be paid the common carrier.

The mail is processed by the mailer in such a way that non local mail and local mail are sorted from one another. The mail is placed into trays and the trays are labeled so as to indicate the contents of the tray. The trays are then placed in sleeves and weighed and a tag is printed indicating the weight of the tray and the contents. The tag is then applied to the sleeve and is scanned and the information on the tag is up-loaded to the data processor of the mailer.

The data processor of the mailer is in communication with the post office and will send pertinent information whereby the post office can determine and verify the amount of postage for the mail to be charged to the mailer, the destination of the mail and the amount required to be paid to the common carrier for the transporting of the mail. After the trays are tagged and scanned, they are placed into receptacles and transported to the common carrier. Based upon the information received from the mailer, the post office charges the mailer for the postage required for the mail and will pay the common carrier without having to process all the mail in a local post office.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system in which the preferred embodiment of the invention can be performed, and

FIG. 2a is a plan view of a label and FIG. 2b of a tag that can be used in practicing the instant invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

In order to eliminate the amount of mail that is sent to a local post office for processing, apparatus and method have been conceived whereby non local mail is processed by a mailer and forwarded directly to a common carrier. Provisions are made for giving sufficient information to the post office that allows the post office to pay the common carrier for transporting the mail, determine if the proper postage has been paid by the mailer and verify the mail content.

With reference to FIG. 1, a block diagram is shown representing a system capable of practicing the preferred embodiment. The system includes a mailer's data processor 12 that can be any one of a number of commercially available computers such as an IBM Model 80 PS/2. This processor 12 is in selective communication with an office of the post office 14, which performs accounting functions for the post office which will be described hereinafter.

In FIG. 1, the conveyance of mail is indicated by the double lines, communication lines are indicated by single arrows lines and optical paths by dotted lines. Although the conveying devices for conveying items from one unit to another are not described, it will be appreciated such devices are well known in the art and of themselves do not form part of the instant invention except to the extent required to perform the novel concepts disclosed herein.

The mailer's data processor 12 is in communication with a mail processing unit 16 that is a combination of an inserter and a sorter such as a Model Series No. 8100 Inserter, available from Pitney Bowes Inc., and a sorter that sorts mail in accordance with zip codes. Sorters of this type are commercially available and are generally referred to as Optical Character Reader, Channel Sorters. Alternatively, a bar code reader can be used where appropriate. This mail processing unit 16 sorts the local mail, which is placed into a local mail receptacle 18 that is sent to a local post office 19, from non local mail, which is trayed at a mail traying unit 20. The mail processing unit 16 conveys inform