August 2002

More Accurate Online Direct Mail Estimates
The perfect estimate is free, no-obligation, no-wait, and accurate. CCI has re-designed the Free Online Estimate to be all of those things. The online estimate is now more accurate in both mailing costs and postage. And because it's instant, you don't have to wait for a human to review your job specifications. The online direct mail estimate calculates costs in seconds.

And remember, CCI reserves a special offer for those using the new online estimate. Get your estimate and special offer at http://www.mailcci.com/estimate.

Sorting Machines Damaging Mail
Postal officials revealed Wednesday that new flat-sorting machines are damaging some flat mail. The Automated Flat Sorting Machine (ASFM) 100 is called the "intelligent" flat-sorting-machine since it can interpret hard-to-read addresses and sort three times as fast as previous models, up to 15,000 per hour.

The USPS recently completed the deployment of 534 ASFM 100's nationwide and has found a very small percentage of flat  mail is being damaged by the new machines. The machines manufacturer, Northrop Grumman, is testing a new feeding system with promising results. And the USPS has issued a training video to its operators which includes steps to minimize damage to mail.

News Poll
Send your vote to mailto:webmaster@mailcci.com or vote online. Visit http://www.mailCCI.com and click Direct Mail Survey.

How do tabs (wafer seals) impact the results of your direct mail campaigns?

____ Positive impact
____ No impact
____ Negative impact
____ Do not use tabs

We'll post the poll results here in next month's e-newsletter.
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Results of last month's poll: 
Do you believe internet access should be free to all people?

77% Yes
23% No

See the results of other surveys CCI has conducted online at http://www.mailcci.com/data/surveys.asp.

www.mailCCI.com
The newest direct mail tool at www.mailcci.com is the ZIP Code(tm) Look Up tool. Now you have access to every ZIP Code in the U.S. and all its territories.

Search by all or part of the city name, all or part of the county name, state, or all or part of the postal code. Or narrow your search with any combination of city, state, county, and zip.

Try it now at http://www.mailcci.com/zipcode_lookup.