Bulk Mail

UPDATE - August 17, 2009: The United States Postal Service confirmed that all users of Bulk Mailings or Nonprofit Standard Mail must use the exact name that appears on the application for a bulk mailing permit. The name that appears on WCU’s permit is West Chester University of Pennsylvania.

As a result, all departments that use WCU 309 Permit need to ensure that all mailings that use the bulk mailing permit must use West Chester University of Pennsylvania in the return address.

703 1.5 Identification of Nonprofit Organization
All matter mailed at the Nonprofit Standard Mail prices must identify the authorized nonprofit organization. The name and return address of the authorized nonprofit organization must be either on the outside of the mail piece or in a prominent location on the material being mailed. Pseudonyms or bogus names of persons or organizations may not be used. If the piece bears any name and return address, it must be that of the authorized nonprofit organization. A well-recognized alternative designation (e.g., “The March of Dimes”) or abbreviation (e.g., “AFL-CIO”) may be used rather than the full organization name.

If you have any questions or need any additional information, please contact Ray Nieves at extension 2744 or Marianne Peffall at extension 2705.

West Chester University currently has a decentralized method of handling bulk mailings. There are several vendors that are being utilized depending on the extent of the services needed. Although our internal post office is not directly involved with the bulk mailing process through third-party vendors, our post office needs to be made aware of all bulk mailings being done within the University in order to properly chargeback the costs. Therefore, BEFORE initiating a bulk mailing through any vendor, the following should occur:

1.Contact Reinaldo Nieves (rnieves @ wcupa.edu) at West Chester University’s post office. You will need to provide him with the number of pieces, the vendor to be used, the anticipated date of the mailing, and department cost center.

2. Ray will provide you with a four-digit tracing number which should, in turn, be provided to the vendor so that they can include on their invoice to us.

3. When the vendor invoices the University for their services, please send a copy of the invoice to Trixia Santiago in Finance and Business Services so that she and Ray can work together in identifying the department who initiated a bulk mailing based upon the tracking number used.

4. If you initiate a bulk mailing and do not see the expense being charged to your department by the end of the following month, please contact Ray so that he can investigate.

By notifying Ray of bulk mailings ahead of time, the chargebacks to your department should occur more frequently therefore making your budget reports more accurate.