Barcodes... Ever wondered how it works 4284

Salketer

MS Word vers 6 had a postal zip code barcode generator for addressing envelopes. This supposedly would speed your letter through the mails since it was already bard coded and they wouldn't have to do it. If you were doing a pre-sorted volume mailing and had a postal discount, you had to include a bar code.

However, on mail I've received I've found that even when pre-barcoded by the sender, the post office adds a duplicate bar code. Sometimes several of them. Sometimes it puts a sticker on the letter. They were putting a sticker on the picture or text side of postcards which covered up the item. Fortunately they switched to a peelable sticker. (I had a nice picture card ruined by trying to peel off a fixed sticker).

Unfortunately, the post office is so automated and centralized with huge centers that mail today moves slower than years ago. This is because they have only one huge trans shipment a day rather than multiple smaller shipments and mail must be redistributed from a huge receiving center.

My local post office doesn't even have "local" mail anymore (ie to within the post office district). Everyone goes 40 miles away to the central facility. So a letter going 1 mile has to travel 80 miles to do so. They used to handle local mail locally.