Method and system for presorting mail based on mail piece thickness

A method for pre-certifying qualifications of mail pieces for postal discounts within a mail piece processing system said method comprising the steps of:

• a) creating a database in said mail piece processing system for containing mail piece address data;
• b) selecting postal code parameters in said mail piece processing system for defining mail piece address data;
• c) performing address cleansing based upon said postal code parameters for cleansing said mail piece address data;
• d) selecting a presort program in said mail piece processing system for defining a set of presort mail piece characteristics;
• defining said mail piece characteristics further comprising the steps of;
• i. selecting a presort mail piece characteristics;
• ii. accurately measuring the thickness of a mail piece;
• iii. entering said mail piece thickness into said presort program;
• e) sorting said mail pieces for postal discount qualifications based upon said presort program, said postal coding and said selected presort mail piece characteristics;
• and
• f) creating a mail piece identifier based upon said postal discount determination;
• and
• g) printing an output of said mail piece identifier.

A mail piece pre-qualification system for qualifying one or more mail pieces for postal discounts, said system comprising;

• a) a mail processing machine;
• said mail processing machine further comprising;
• (i) a data base management system;
• (ii) an address cleansing system;
• (iii) a presort program;
• and
• (iv) a printing means for printing mail piece data;
• b) a mail piece thickness measurement device for accurately measuring the thickness of a mail piece, said mail piece measurement thickness device directly coupled to said presort program;
• (c) a means for sorting said one or more mail pieces based upon said accurate mail piece thickness measurement and postal service guidelines, such that said one or more mail pieces qualifies for a postage payment discount.