Patent ID: 7644010

Claim:
A method for providing identification codes to allow tracking of outbound mail and corresponding reply mail in a delivery system, the method facilitating tracking of mail wherein an intended recipient of an outbound mailpiece is not determined until after all of the physical components of the mailpiece have been assembled together, the method comprising: associating, using a computer, a first ID code with a second ID code that are both printed on a return envelope, the first ID code being positioned on a front of the return envelope, the return envelope having return address on the front; and the second ID code being positioned on a back of the return envelope, the back of the return envelope having a recipient address region; inserting, using an inserter machine, the return envelope into a carrier envelope; the front of the return envelope facing the back of the carrier envelope, and the second ID code and the recipient address region being visible through a front window in the front of the carrier envelope; inserting, using the inserter machine, a content document into the carrier envelope; determining, using a scanner coupled to the computer, an attribute of the content document through a window in the carrier envelope; determining, using the computer, the intended recipient based on the attribute of the content document; printing, using a printer, a recipient address in the recipient address region of the return envelope, through the front window on the carrier envelope; and associating, using the computer, the first ID code and the second ID code with the intended recipient of the outbound mail.