Abstract:
A method that enables the post to deliver mail addressed to a recipient nearest location virtual address to be delivery directly to the recipient&#39;s nearest designated location or facility to the place the mail was posted. Mail addressed to the nearest location virtual address (mapping to a street address or post office box) would be captured by the post during the post&#39;s sortation process and routed to the nearest location or facility to the place the mail was posted. This enables the recipient to receive their mail more quickly since the amount of delivery time is reduced.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The invention relates generally to the field of mail delivery systems and more particularly to methods for delivering mail addressed to a recipient&#39;s nearest designated location to the place the mail was posted. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Ever since the numeric codification of streets and buildings received general acceptance, an individuals&#39; name and their household postal addresses have been linked. The sender of a letter or package would deliver a letter or package to the post with the correct recipient postal address, and the post would deliver the letter or package to the numeric street address of the recipient of the letter or package. A correct recipient postal address for the delivery of the letter or package to the recipient included: the name of the recipient; the street address of the recipient; the city and state of the recipient; and (more recently) the ZIP code of the recipient. Thus, the correct recipient postal address is usually the actual location of the recipient. 
         [0003]    Typically, it takes the United States Postal Service (USPS) one to three days to deliver first class mail to a domestic recipient. If bill payments, certain business orders, and requests for business information are not received promptly by the business receiving the payments, soliciting the orders or having to provide the information, an increased amount of time will result before the money is received, and/or the order is fulfilled and/or the information is provided to the requestor. The foregoing may result in business losing interest income, having money float problems and/or losing possible business. 
         [0004]    Many businesses have multiple geographic locations that receive their mail. If a California customer requests information from the New York office of the business or a New York bill payer sends their payment to the business California office the actual time it takes the business to receive the mail would be increased. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    This invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a method that enables the post to deliver mail addressed to a nearest location virtual address to be delivered directly to the recipient&#39;s nearest designated location or facility to the place the mail was posted. Mail addressed to the nearest location virtual address (mapping to a street address or post office box) would be captured by the post during the post&#39;s sortation process and routed to the nearest location or facility to the place the mail was posted. This enables the recipient to receive their mail more quickly since the amount of delivery time is reduced. 
         [0006]    An advantage of this invention is that the business that is using a nearest location virtual address may advertise that people send their correspondence to a single simple virtual address, which is far easier to remember than a number of distinct regional complete postal addresses. 
         [0007]    Another advantage of this invention is that the use of a single corporate address eliminates the cost of creating, inventorying, managing, and distributing multiple versions of reply envelopes destined to each region of the country. 
         [0008]    A further advantage of this invention is that it optimizes mail delivery time when the customer mails the return envelope from an unexpected location (e.g. a New York customer mails an envelope from vacation in California). 
         [0009]    An advantage of this invention for the post is that it is compatible with the existing POSTNET barcode, ZIP code, and sort scheme processes. 
         [0010]    Another advantage to the post is that corporate preaddressed envelopes contain redundant human readable and machine readable address information 
         [0011]    A still further advantage to the post is that this invention allows rerouting of mail if logistical issues, traffic, weather, corporate disasters, or mail volumes make the initial lookup address disfavored. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         [0012]      FIG. 1  is a drawing of a prior art business reply mail piece; 
           [0013]      FIG. 2  is a drawing of a business reply mail piece that may be utilized by this invention; 
           [0014]      FIG. 3  is a drawing of an alternate version of a customer addressed mail piece that may be utilized by this invention; 
           [0015]      FIG. 4  is a drawing showing a courtesy reply envelope embodiment of the invention with a POSTNET bar code  48 ; 
           [0016]      FIG. 5  is a drawing of a flow chart showing the registration/set up process for obtaining a virtual address; 
           [0017]      FIG. 6  is a drawing of a map of the continental United States showing cities in which a company has offices to which they may want their mail diverted; 
           [0018]      FIG. 7  is a business provided nearest location table; and 
           [0019]      FIG. 8  is a drawing of a flow chart showing step  103  of  FIG. 5  in greater detail. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0020]    Referring now to the drawings in detail, and more particularly to Prior Art  FIG. 1 , the reference character  11  represents a business reply mail piece. Mail piece  11  has a recipient address field  12 , and a sender address field  13 , that is completed by the person returning business reply mail piece  11 . A block  14  indicating that “No Postage Necessary If Mailed In “The United States” is positioned in the upper right hand corner of mail piece  11 , and a statement  15  that indicates “Postage Will Be Paid By Addressee” is positioned above recipient address field  12 . Mail piece  11  also contains a block  16  positioned above statement  15 . Block  16  indicates the type of mail, i.e., business reply mail  17 , the type of service, i.e., first class mail  18 , the permit number  19  and the location  20  of the post office that issued permit number  19 . A facing identification mark  21  is positioned along the top edge of mail piece  11 , and business reply horizontal bars  22  are positioned along the right edge of mail piece  11 . A POSTNET bar code  23  is positioned below recipient address field  12  in a bar code clear zone. Bar code  23  is numerically represented in space  49 . 
         [0021]      FIG. 2  is a drawing of a business reply mail piece  31  that may be utilized by this invention. Mail piece  31  has a recipient address field  32 , and a sender address field  33  that is completed by the person returning business reply mail piece  31 . A block  34  indicating that “No Postage Necessary If Mailed In “The United States” is positioned in the upper right hand corner of mail piece  31 , and a statement  35  that indicates “Postage Will Be Paid By Addressee” is positioned above recipient address field  32 . Recipient address field  32  contains a mailing address and a designation  44  for nearest location virtual address number NL 548008. Virtual address NL 548008 does not physically exist, it is code that instructs the post office to deliver mail piece  31  to the recipient&#39;s nearest designated delivery point, i.e., location or facility. Mail piece  31  also contains a block  36  positioned above statement  35 . Block  36  indicates the type of mail, i.e., business reply mail  37 ; the type of service, i.e., first class mail  38 ; the permit number  39 ; and, the location  40  of the post office that issued permit number  39 . A facing identification mark  41  is positioned along the top edge of mail piece  31 , and business reply horizontal bars  42  are positioned along the right edge of mail piece  31 . A POSTNET bar code  43  is positioned below recipient address field  32 . POSTNET bar code  43  may indicate that mail piece  31  is to be delivered in accordance with the instructions for nearest location virtual address number NL 548008. The “nearest location” format has triple redundancy for error recovery (even without a street address or city and state). The destination is uniquely determined by the: (1) registered company name, (2) the nearest location code, and (3) bar code  43 . Bar code  43  is numerically represented in space  59 . 
         [0022]      FIG. 3  is a drawing of an alternate version of a mail piece that may be utilized by this invention. Mail piece  45  is addressed by the customer and has a recipient address field that only includes the nearest location virtual address designation  44  (i.e. nearest location virtual address NL 548008), a return address field  46  that is completed by the sender, and a postage stamp  47 . Virtual address designation  44  may also be a company name, graphic design, logo, etc. 
         [0023]    The customer might have been informed of the address (i.e., nearest location virtual address designation  44 ) through a mailed, television, radio, or internet advertisement. The customer manually addressed mail piece  45  and applied the postage. 
         [0024]      FIG. 4  is a drawing showing a preaddressed courtesy envelope provided by a business to a customer. It is a preprinted courtesy envelope with a nearest location virtual address  44 , a POSTNET bar code  48 , a return address block  80 , and a space  51  where a postage stamp may be affixed. Bar code  48  represents a USPS automation compatible machine readable form (00354-8008-O1) of the human readable NL 548008 nearest location virtual address designation  44 . In the structure of designation  44  and bar code  48 , the “003” designates the nearest location service and 548008 is the code assigned to Pitney Bowes. The “nearest location” format has double redundancy for error recovery (even without a street address or city and state). The destination is uniquely determined by: (1) the nearest location code and (2) the bar code  48 . Bar code  48  is numerically represented in space  50 . 
         [0025]      FIG. 5  is a drawing of a flow chart showing the registration/set up process for obtaining a nearest location code. The process begins in step  100  where the mailer requests a nearest location code from the post and submits a list of alternative nearest locations to which the mailer would like their mail delivered by the post. Then in step  101  the post receives the mailers request (and list) and the post assigns a nearest location code with a POSTNET bar code to the mailer. Next in step  103  the post determines the nearest location (and the backup location) for each mail processing hub. This is based upon the fastest time to deliver a mail piece mailed at each mail hub. The operations performed by step  103  will be more fully described in the description of  FIG. 8 . Now in step  105  the post distributes the updated sorter sort plans created in step  103  to each of the mail processing hubs. 
         [0026]    The mailer receives in step  107  their assigned nearest location code and POSTNET bar code from the post. Whenever the mailer wishes to add or delete a location from the list of nearest locations step  109  relays new newest location addresses to the post at step  103 . If step  109  determines that a new location will not be added or deleted from the list, the list will not be updated at this time and the process rests at the input of step  109 . After the mailer receives the nearest location code with a POSTNET bar code from the post, the mailer distributes business reply and courtesy reply envelopes containing the nearest location code in step  113  and advertises the nearest location code in step  115  to customers. 
         [0027]      FIG. 6  is a drawing of a map of the continental United States showing cities in which a company has offices to which they may want their mail delivered. The western borders of the United States and line  60  define the San Francisco region of the United States. The north and south borders of the United States and lines  61  define the Aurora region of the United States. Line  63  and the southeastern borders of the United States define the Miami region of the United States. The northeastern border of the United States and line  64  defines the Shelton-Stamford region of the United States. It will take approximately the same amount of time to deliver mail that is posted in one of the above regions and delivered to the above city or cities shown in that region. 
         [0028]    If the mailpieces in  FIGS. 2 ,  3 , and/or  4  were mailed from Location A, the POSTNET barcode  43  ( FIG. 2 ),  48  ( FIG. 4 ), or designation  44  ( FIG. 3 ) would identify to the local mail processing equipment that this was a mailpiece intended for delivery to the nearest location in the Aurora region. Pitney Bowes Government Solutions, at 20321 E. 35th Drive, Aurora Colo.  80011  is listed in  FIG. 7  as the nearest location for the Aurora region, thus the mailpieces might be delivered there. If, on the other hand, the mailpieces were mailed from location B, the POSTNET barcode  43  ( FIG. 2 ),  48  ( FIG. 4 ), or designation  44  ( FIG. 3 ) would identify to the local mail processing equipment that this was a mailpiece intended for delivery to the nearest location in the Miami region. Pitney Bowes Management Solutions, at 9495 SW 72nd Street, Miami Fla.  33173  is listed in  FIG. 7  as the nearest location for the Miami region, thus the mailpieces might be delivered there. If the above mailpieces were mailed from location C the POSTNET barcode  43  ( FIG. 2 ),  48  ( FIG. 4 ), or designation  44  ( FIG. 3 ) would identify to the local mail processing equipment that this was a mailpiece intended for delivery to the nearest location in the Aurora or San Francisco regions. When it would take approximately the same amount of time to deliver mailpieces to two different specified nearest location designations, the rankings in  FIG. 7  would determine which address the mailpices would be delivered to. In this case San Francisco has a ranking of “5” and Aurora has a rank of “2”, thus the mailpieces would be delivered to Pitney Bowes Government Solutions, at 20321 E. 35th Drive, Aurora CO  80011 . Finally if the above mailpieces were mailed from location D the POSTNET barcode  43  ( FIG. 2 ),  48  ( FIG. 4 ), or designation  44  ( FIG. 3 ) would identify to the local mail processing equipment that this was a mailpiece intended for delivery to the nearest location in the Shelton-Stamford region. 
         [0029]    When it would take approximately the same amount of time to deliver mailpieces to two different specified nearest location designations in a region, the rankings in  FIG. 7  would determine which address the mailpices would be delivered to. In this case Shelton has a ranking of “2” and Stamford has a rank of “1”, thus the mailpieces would be delivered to Pitney Bowes WHQ, located at 1 Elmcroft Rd, Stamford Conn. 06926. In each instance, the mailpieces were delivered to a nearby location, reducing float time on any funds and ensuring rapid customer service. If weather or other operational issues prevent delivery to the primary address then the next best address for that region using the rankings of  FIG. 7  would be used, i.e., if there is a problem delivering mail to Stamford, the mail would be delivered to Pitney Bowes at 35 Waterview Drive Shelton, Conn. 06484. 
         [0030]      FIG. 7  is a business provided nearest location table. Column  70  indicates the addresses of locations where the business would like mailpieces delivered. Column  71  indicates the region in which the addresses of column  70  are located. It is provided here for clarity of description; typically the post would obtain such data from delivery standard database  220  ( FIG. 8 ). Column  72  indicates the business preference rankings for the addresses in column  70  where “1” represents the most preferred address and larger numbers represent lower ranking priorities. 
         [0031]      FIG. 8  is a drawing of a flow chart showing step  103  of  FIG. 5  in greater detail. If a new business mailer enrolls in the program ( 101 ), an existing mailer changes addresses ( 109 ), or the post changes their hub structure or routing times ( 200 ), the sort plans are regenerated. The sort plan regeneration process already occurs on a regular basis today. In step  210  the post utilizes the latest nearest location table from the mailer, i.e., the information contained in  FIG. 7 . Next in step  230  the post checks data base  220  for the average delivery time from each Sectional Center Facility (mail hub) to each mailer nearest location. The data base  220  reports, for instance, that mail deposited in ZIP codes beginning with the digits 068 is delivered the following business day in Shelton (06484) and Stamford (06926); it is delivered in 2 business days to Miami (33173); and it is delivered in 3 business days to Aurora (80011) and San Francisco (94105). Corresponding data is available for every other origination mail hub and destination ZIP code. Then in step  240  the post ranks each candidate nearest location by predicted delivery time. Next in step  250  the post generates a sort plan for each Sectional Center Facility using the fastest (and second fastest for the backup) nearest location. The business designated priority rankings are used to break ties (the information contained in  FIG. 7 ). The process goes back to step  230  for the next mail hub. When all mail hubs are completed, the next step in the process will be step  105  ( FIG. 5 ) in which the new sort plans are distributed by the post to the mail processing hubs. Typically these updated sort plans might be distributed weekly with the new business list incorporated and the latest postal processing flows and times incorporated in the routing plans. 
         [0032]    The above specification describes a new and improved method for methods for delivering mail addressed to a nearest location virtual address to the recipients nearest location to the place the mail was posted. It is realized that the above description may indicate to those skilled in the art additional ways in which the principles of this invention may be used without departing from the spirit. Therefore, it is intended that this invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.