Data controlled mail collation system
View Patent ↗Today, high density mailings such as “marriage mail,” Advo type advertisements, saturation mail, periodicals, and catalogs often require manual handling by the postal authority. Other than saturation mailings, where every carrier stop gets the same article, these items must be addressed. Verification of production is often desired due to spoilage and damage during production, which requires rework by the mailer. The addition of a data controlled mail collation feeder to existing or new Postal Authority automation equipment or the like eliminates the need to manually handle these difficult mail types and eliminates the need to address specific items. The manual casing at the delivery is eliminated. The data processing system that controls the data controlled mail collation feeder will also perform delivery confirmation and may assess postage due.
1. A method of automatically controlling mail processing, comprising:
feeding a stream of unaddressed mail flats by an automatic feeder to an automatic sorting system;
receiving an address data file containing information that defines mail stops on a delivery route of a mail carrier;
generating feeder and collation instructions based on the received address data file; and
controlling the automatic feeder for feeding the unaddressed mail flats to the automatic sorting system, to add the unaddressed mail flats during sorting of mail, so as to include one of the unaddressed mail flats in each of a plurality of groupings of sorted stop-sequence mail, corresponding to the received address data file, each stop-sequence grouping comprising one or more mail pieces intended for delivery to each of a plurality of the mail stops on the delivery route of the mail carriers,
wherein the received address data file identifies a sub-set but not all of the mail stops on the carrier's route, and
the controlling causes the automatic inclusion of one of the unaddressed mail flats in each grouping of mail intended for delivery to a respective mail stop in the identified sub-set.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising validating each received address from the address data file before controlling the feeder to enable insertion of an unaddressed mail flat into the grouping of mail intended for the mail stop corresponding to the received address.
3. A method of automatically controlling mail processing, comprising:
receiving collation instructions regarding desired delivery of flats to mail stops on a delivery route of a mail carrier, the received collation instructions being separate from any material included in or printed on the flats, wherein the receiving of the collation instructions comprises receiving an address file containing addresses of the mail stops in the sub-set;
controlling an automatic feeder for feeding the flats to an automatic sorting system, to add the flats during sorting of the mail, so as to include one of the flats in each of a plurality of groupings of sorted stop-sequence mail, based on the received collation instructions, each grouping comprising one or more mail pieces intended for delivery to each of a plurality of the mail stops on the delivery route of the mail carrier;
detecting an address in the received file for which a resident has moved to a new delivery location;
identifying an address of the resident at the new delivery location; and
forwarding an instruction to a remote facility to collate into a bundle for delivery at the new delivery location by another mail carrier, wherein:
the collation instructions identify a sub-set but not all of the mail stops on the carrier's route; and
the controlling causes the automatic inclusion of one of the flats in each grouping of mail intended for delivery to a respective mail stop in the sub-set identified by the instructions.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising counting number of the unaddressed mail flats added to the groupings of mail.
5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising reporting the number of the unaddressed mail flats added to the groupings to a mailer of the unaddressed mail flats as verification of delivery.
6. A method of automatically controlling mail processing, comprising:
receiving collation instructions regarding desired delivery of unaddressed mail flats to mail stops on a delivery route of a mail carrier, the received collation instructions being separate from any material included in or printed on the unaddressed mail flats;
controlling an automatic feeder for feeding the unaddressed mail flats to an automatic sorting system, to add the unaddressed mail flats during sorting of the mail, so as to include one of the unaddressed mail flats in each of a plurality of groupings of sorted stop-sequence mail, based on the received collation instructions, each grouping comprising one or more mail pieces intended for delivery to a sub-set but not all of a plurality of the mail stops on the delivery route of the mail carrier, the sub-set being defined by the received collation instructions;
counting number of the unaddressed mail flats added to the groupings of mail; and
accounting for a postage charge for delivery of the unaddressed mail flats based on the number of the unaddressed mail flats added into the groupings of mail.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving additional collation instructions regarding desired delivery of other unaddressed mail flats to the mail stops on the delivery route of the mail carrier, the received additional collation instructions being separate from any material included in or printed on the other unaddressed mail flats; and
controlling the automatic feeder for feeding the additional unaddressed mail flats to the automatic sorting system, based on the received additional collation instructions, to add the additional unaddressed mail flats during sorting of the mail, so as to add one of the additional unaddressed mail flats in each of a plurality of groupings of sorted stop-sequence mail.
8. A computer programmed to implement the method of claim 1 .
9. A software product comprising: executable instructions for causing a computer to perform the method of claim 1 , and a machine readable medium bearing the instructions.