Considering the problems the USPS had last week with their security breach, it seems like a good time to answer some questions mailers have been asking us about whether the discounts and payments have still been applied automatically, as they would have expected.
The USPS created an electronic postage payment process many years ago as they migrated to the electronic world. At that time, CAPS (Centralized Account Processing System) was born. The issue with the CAPS system is that it’s difficult to reconcile when using multiple permits or mailing locations. Deductions can occur (or not occur) often, which opens the mailers up to potential fraudulent activity. In light of this recent security breach, many mailers have been left wondering how the breach might have impacted the automatic application of these payments and deductions.
For many, the solution has come in the form of CAPS Reconciliation solutions. Instead of viewing potentially thousands of transactions, I’ve been able to summarize the exceptions for my customers (like in the picture below) to easily identify any of the potential anomalies. The true benefit is identifying the exceptions in a simple way rather than having to manually review hundreds of transactions. This has been a lifesaver in ensuring that postage dollars are accounted for.
