Word Mailmerge w POSTNET - don't take away my binky

[John Galt]

I have been using Word 03 to do up to 400,000 mailmerged letters a month. I
merge the first & last names, with other very specific fields from Excel into
the body of the letter. On page two I put the address and the Barcode
positioned so that i can tri-fold the one page and have a mailable piece (no
envelope costs!). Furthermore I use a bulk mail permit for obvious reasons,
which i also print on page two using Word. I read references from Feb of '07
saying Word will not work for this? I have done some as recently as Aug 07
with no problem? How hard can it be to incorporate whatever change the USPS
wants to a barcode? Tell me MS is not completely abandoning this useful
barcode feature.

I know 3rd party programs can generate these new Barcodes, but I don't use
label stickers, I use Word and incorporate the address and barcode right into
my letters ...will i be able to manipulate the address & Zipcode data in
Excel to have Word put the proper number(s) in Barcode format?

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

I understand that the following thread explains the situation:

Quote

Well-researched yourself!

As I now understand it, you can still use the BARCODE field in Word 2007
merges despite what the Word documentation suggests, but you have to enter
them manually because the necessary checkboxes have been disabled on the
relevant dialog boxes.

Since I live in the UK I have no idea whether adding barcodes speeds up the
mail in the US.

Peter Jamieson

Peter, thanks for your research! I got a little persistent and discovered
what you presented here. I first found a document on how to read, or how
to
generate the barcode and thats when I found as you indicate that the merge
generates a ZIP+4 barcode. Thats actually untrue in that a true ZIP+4 has
52
bars. The 'envelope' or single label generation creates the 62 bar
version
which includes as the last two digits the last two digits of the street
address! The merge version generates a 62 bar version BUT generates a
'99'
for the 'last two digits' of the street address. Which is why they
wouldn't
be useful for bulk mail. I personally believe you can speed delivery by
including the barcode in your mailing. I always use the barcode
generation
when sending any business correspondence. I'm sorry Word has dropped it
from
the mail-merge of 2007! I probably don't do that much for it to affect me
but others are being deprived of a partial benefit!
Roland

Unquote

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP