PostalOne! - Introduction
This section of the DAT-MAIL guide assumes you are using the Only Create Release Files option versus Generate Statements.
In case you are a novice to the mail payment process, here is some information directly from the USPS about the types of releases that you can submit via their MDR Client:
The Mail.dat client software displays upload status, Qualification Report generation status, and Postage Statement generation status. The CSM Container Status determines what reports to generate. The original status generates Qualification Reports and the Container and Bundle report for Periodicals. In addition to the reports generated for the original status, the preliminary status generates the estimated postage statements. Estimated postage statements are provided for customer convenience and are not used by the Postal Service. The ready-to-pay status requires the original or preliminary status to be sent before generating the postage statements to be finalized and billed. (Postal Service Mail.dat Technical Specifications: Mail.dat Version 3, Release 53, August 15, 2021, P42).
We refer to all submissions as releases, but we will also refer to the USPS submission types as we go along. For example, we support the original, original ready-to-pay, and ready-to-pay. While the Postal Service does not mention it above, they also support canceling a statement and deleting a job, and we do too.
If you want to submit the Qualification Report for all classes of mail but are not ready to post a statement, you will access the PostalOne! Release Mail screen and create a release. This release occurs by clicking the PostalOne! > Generate PostalOne! Release File.
If your file already has a CSM Container Status of P-Preliminary or R-Ready-to-Pay, you will need to change this status to blank before submitting it to PostalOne!. Removing the Container Status can be done on import, or if you do not update files on import, you will need to access the Release Mail screen and click Reset All. If the status is not removed, you will either post a preliminary postage statement or live statement on the PostalOne! Dashboard.
We recommend going to the Advanced Navigator to create all release files.
If you would like to submit the Qualification Report, the postage statement, and other related reports, you can do that within the Release Mail screen. You can release all the containers for payment or submit only a portion of the containers. Still, we will send the entire file, so the Qualification Report is generated for the entire mailing. The USPS will not accept it any other way. The Qualification Report is for the entire job. So it is essential that if you plan to change how the mail is palletized or containerized, you need to make these changes before submitting your first release to PostalOne!.
There may be times you have errors in a job, or the mail owner decides not to ship the mail or only ship a portion of it. We will show you the different ways to handle this within DAT-MAIL. Sometimes we will refer you to other sections of the DAT-MAIL User Guide for options.
We will start with the basics and then move into the more advanced options.
PostalOne! Create a Release - Original File
PostalOne! - Release Mail - Other Options
PostalOne! - Release Mail - Original Ready to Pay
Submit One Release with Multiple Mailing Dates (Statements)