In most cases you do not, as long as the mail piece you are sending has a valid address that matches a standard address in the USPS system and it has 6 sheets or less to be mailed in a #10 (standard size) envelope.  To know if your address matches a standard USPS address, after entering the address and processing the job, the address will be highlighted in green saying “Good Domestic Address.”  If your mail piece meets these standards, our system will automatically print a special Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB) below the address on the envelope. This IMB will be scanned by the USPS as it travels closer to its destination. Unfortunately the mail carrier doesn’t always scan those mail pieces correctly or for some other reason it is undeliverable, which occurs less than 5% of the time. The USPS sends Postalocity regular updates on scanned IMBs, and we automatically post these updates to the Mail Pieces page for each individual piece.
To find the IMB tracking number after you have mailed your job you can click “Search” and then click “Jobs” at the top of the screen, find the mail job you want information about, select it, then select the green “Tracking Information” button. The next screen will pull up a box labeled “Tracking Information” located in the bottom right side of the screen, which will tell you the most recent phase of your mail piece. The phase correlates to the information below.
Phase 1 – Origin Processing – Distribution of originating mail
Phase 2a – Destination MMP Processing – Mail that is processed at a destinating facility that has arrived from another processing plant or ADC labeled presort trays
Phase 2b – Destination SCF Processing – Primary distribution of one or more 3-digit ZIP Code separations for a destinating plant from an origin plant or SCF labeled presort tray
Phase 2c – Destination Primary Processing – Primary 5-digit distribution of incoming mail for local zones, delivery units, firms, box sections, and other local destinations
Phase 3a – Destination Secondary Processing – Distribution of carrier route mail for local delivery units, firms, box sections, and other local destinations
Phase 3b – Destination Box Mail Processing – Distribution of mail to PO Box sections or firms
Phase 3c – Destination Sequenced Carrier Sortation – Sequenced distribution of carrier route mail for local delivery units, firms, box sections, and other local destinations
Phase 4c – DeliveryHandling unit distributed to a carrier for delivery