Mailpiece perforating/cutting system

A mailpiece comprising:

• a sealed envelope defining a chamber therein;
• and
• contents contained in the chamber;
• wherein the sealed envelope includes at least one slot therein that permits air to flow from the chamber to outside of the sealed envelope at times when the envelope is subject to a compressive force but that does not compromise the privacy of the contents within the sealed envelope.

A mailpiece comprising:

• a sealed envelope defining a chamber therein;
• and
• contents contained in the chamber;
• wherein the sealed envelope includes a castellated edge having alternating opened and unopened sections that permits air to flow from the chamber through the opened sections to outside of the sealed envelope at times when the envelope is subject to a compressive force while maintaining the privacy of the contents via the unopened sections.

A method for expelling air out of mailpieces comprising the steps of:

• creating a stack of the mailpieces;
• cutting at least one slot in at least some of the mailpieces;
• jogging the stack of mailpieces;
• and
• subjecting the stack of mailpieces to at least one compression/decompression cycle during the jogging step thereby expelling air out of the at least some of the mailpieces through their corresponding slot.

A device for cutting mailpieces, the device comprising:

• a first cutter wheel having a first cutting edge;
• a second cutter wheel having a second cutting edge, the second cutting edge having a plurality of notches therein and vertical cutting edges that are substantially perpendicular to the second cutting edge, each of the plurality of notches having a pair of the vertical cutting edges each of which is disposed along a corresponding side of each of the plurality of notches;
• a backing member;
• and
• means for driving the first and second cutter wheels and the backing member into rotation;
• wherein the first and second cutter wheels are positioned to define a first cutting nip between the first and second cutting edges and the vertical edges and backing member define a second cutting nip therebetween such that at times when a mailpiece passes through the first cutting nip the interaction of the first and second cutting edges make a first cut in the mailpiece except when the plurality of notches are present at the cutting nip and when the mailpiece passes through the second cutting nip the vertical edges make a second cut in the mailpiece substantially perpendicular to the first cut whereby after the mailpiece has completely passed through the first and second cutting nips it has an edge having a castellated appearance including opened edge portions and unopened edge portions.

A mailpiece opening device comprising:

• a housing;
• a jogger for registering mailpieces;
• means for cutting openings in the mailpieces while maintaining the privacy of contents of the mailpieces;
• means for transporting the mailpieces through the cutting means;
• and
• means for stacking the mailpieces after the mailpieces have been cut by the cutting means;
• wherein the jogger, cutting means, transporting means, and stacking means are all disposed in the housing.