Mailing ML Singles:
The ML singles are mailed 12 Times/year: one each month. Each mailing includes all the ML for that particular month and the matching BS. The number of ML will be either 4 or 5, one for each Sunday of the month.
To Run Labels for ML Singles:
• In Universe, at the > prompt, type ‘M’ to get the Menu.
• Then choose 16 for Periodicals.
• Choose 4 for Labels.
• Choose ML, then S. (You are answering the questions about what you want to do.)
• Enter the year, then the mailing number. The mailing number will be the number of the month you are mailing, ie. January=1, etc.
• For ML-S, we always mail US, Canada, and Foreign at once, so just hit ‘Enter’ there.
• If you are not re-printing some labels, just hit ‘Enter’ again.
To Print the Labels:
The ML-S labels print on the Slabels which are already loaded on the back whatever it’s called on the Printek printer. (Type this out at BTP)
No labels that need special handling are printed for a ML-S mailing. Also, the Singles envelopes are all stuffed before the labels are put on. Each envelope gets exactly the same thing: one each of the 4 or 5 ML’s and a BS. With the October mailing each year, there is also a Name list included. I ask Helen to help me stuff these envelopes one afternoon and on the next day, I run them through the labeling machine and finish the mailing. The Sequence Statement will tell you how many stuffed envelopes you will need for that month. Since the BS are already counted, I put out the right number of them, along with a stack of each ML. The ML envelope boxes have a white label with green printing on the and are stored on the south side of the north aisle in the back room of BTP.
So once the envelopes are all stuffed, get the label machine from the back room. It is stored just to the west of the double doors from the kitchen to the back room. If the door is open, it is behind the door. The machine is kept covered to keep the shop dust out of it.
The cart has a box on the middle shelf that has a book for the label machine in it. The book has a diagram for loading the labels. Take off the bottom 8-10 labels and put them by hand one at a time on an envelope. Use the blank paper to thread the machine. The ML-S envelopes require all four of the things at the back that let only one envelope through to be used. Set the 2 Things that hold the back of the envelopes at an angle so that the envelopes are about half way up. If the machine starts putting 2 labels on one envelope, there is a page in the book that will show you how to stop that. If you run out of envelopes before all the labels are used, look through all the envelopes for blank ones before you stuff more envelopes.
You have to look through all the envelopes next. For Foreign and Canada envelopes, just make sure there are none without labels and that the country name shows on every label. For the US addresses, they have to be sorted by tray number and bundle number, similarly to ML-Q envelopes. I use the string tie-er to tie the XX-1X envelopes into 2 bundles (change this on the Sequence Statement, 2nd page) and rubber bands on all the rest of the bundles. Rubber bands go on long ways first, then across.
The tray labels are spooled at the same time the envelope labels are. They are printed on pink labels. They have to be loaded on the front label holder of the Printek printer. They are labeled ‘Pink’ on the monitor for the Printek printer. Select LP 18 on the printer itself. The holes on the sides of the labels won’t fit in the label holder on the tray/sack, so I take those off in my office and put them in the recycle paper box that I keep on the bottom shelf of the bookcase behind my chair.
After the envelopes are rubber banded, they are put into a tray. There is currently only one tray of ML Singles. I use an EMM tray. I think the XX-1X bundle is more than 8”, so it has to be made into 2 bundles. Once the envelopes are all in the tray, put the sleeve and strap on. It is now ready to go to the mailroom, along with the Canada and Foreign envelopes. Paperwork time, again!
The Singles paperwork is very similar to the Quantities. You will need an each weight, which I get by weighing 10 stuffed envelopes then moving the decimal one place to the left. You also need the ‘Issue Date’. I use the first Sunday of the month, which should be the same date that was used for a Quantities mailing.
I use Firefox to enter the information at the USPS website. I have made the gateway for business entry the home page for Firefox. After you sign in, choose “Postal Wizard”. On the next page,
Again, when you are through entering the information, (see the printed directions for entering the information), on the last page before you click ‘submit’, click the ‘Printer format’ and a printable page will pop up. I usually check a couple of things like ‘Issue date’ or ‘mailing classification’ to make sure the page has updated. After I print that page, I click ‘Submit’ at the bottom of the web page. The next page that opens has a number that I write on the Sequence Statement paper that I am working on AND on the top of the first page that has come out of the printer. Make a copy of each of the papers that you have been working from on the copier just across from the restroom. Sign the last page that came out of the printer, fold the sheets, mark the back with ‘L’, ‘F’, or ‘P’ and how many trays/sacks and what kind of trays. We are also required to include one of each piece that is in the mailing, ie. one each of everything that is in the Singles envelopes. The paperwork is now ready to be taken to the mailroom. Then, I write the mailing date on the blank line for it on the front page of the Sequence Statement, reassemble it, and put it on the right end of the top shelf of the bookcase to the left of the desk.