It is now possible to track bulk mail and USPS marketing mail. The tracking and reporting of delivery of bulk mail is not as good as for packages but it does provide an idea of where the mail is in the mail stream. For bulk mail the USPS equipment is not setup to scan every barcode and tracking availability usually depends on the type of mail piece and the final destination post office. Some post offices have scanning equipment others do not.

The bulk mail tracking reporting will not show the actual delivery but rather the last scan prior to being delivered by the postal carrier. We have also seen that larger mail pieces (flat/ large envelopes) tend to have trackability than smaller pieces. This is due to the equipment each type of piece is run on.

Bulk mail tracking is great for having an idea of where mail is in the mail stream but it should not be relied upon to track individual pieces. Typically reporting will just let you know the percentage of mail that has received the last scan before being delivered to the mailbox. Most people use this to have an idea of where the piece is in the mail stream so that other marketing efforts can follow accordingly. We also see people using this to ensure that mail is in the system and verify that time sensitive bulk mailings arrive on time.

If this is tracking for bulk mailing is something you are interested in please contact us. We will also need to know this prior to processing data as the tracking identifier will need to be placed in the barcode.