Method and system for the improved manual processing of undeliverable mail

A mail sorting method, comprising:

• receiving mail pieces at a feed point of a mail sorting system;
• classifying the mail pieces into machinable mail pieces and non-machinable mail pieces;
• forwarding the machinable mail pieces to an automated sorting machine and sorting the mail pieces according to address information carried by the mail pieces, wherein mail pieces with incomplete or incorrect addressing information are classified as rejects by the automated sorting machine;
• acquiring images of the mail pieces classified as rejects and storing the images in an image processing system;
• forwarding the non-machinable mail pieces and the mail pieces classified as rejects to a manual processing station;
• scanning the mail pieces received in the manual processing station and acquiring an image of each of the mail pieces or the address information carried by the mail pieces;
• transmitting the images acquired by the scanning device from the manual processing station to an image processing system;
• and
• manually processing the mail pieces by an operator on the basis of a result received from the image processing system, and labeling and forwarding the mail pieces for delivery, for return to sender, or for wasting.