Forms Talk

USPS Issues New Intelligent Mail Barcodes Standards

By: Lisa Lee, CEBS, FLMI
VP, Administration

You can review and comment on proposed new standards for Intelligent Mail Barcodes.

An advanced copy of the Federal Register notice proposing the use of Intelligent Mail Barcodes on automation mailings of letters and flats is now available on Postal Explorer at pe.usps.com. This notice includes revised mailing standards for the use of Intelligent Mail Barcodes effective May 2009 concurrent with the date that the USPS will implement the mailing services price change.

The comment period will extend 30 days from the date the notice appears in the Federal Register. Mailers are encouraged to review and comment on the USPS proposal as soon as possible. Mailers may submit additional comments any time within the comment period.

Source: Document magazine

Paper Ballots Hit the Voting Trail

By: Margaret Tassin, CFSP, CDC
Program Council, Director of Education

Have we come a long way since the butterfly ballot debacle in 2000?  Maybe.  Two men are advocating using paper ballots and a web site in combination as a way to combat voter fraud.  The New York Times recently published an op-ed column on the idea.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/opinion/07poundstone.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

Forms Make Front Page News

By: Margaret Tassin, CFSP, CDC

Program Council, Director of Education

"New form to combat job fraud across US", front page headline from Houston Chronicle, Wednesday December 26, 2007.

What is one of the tools the US government is using to fight document fraud? It is a paper form. According to the Chronicle, the US Federal government implemented a revised I-9 form that "drops five documents from the list that employers could use to verify employees' identities and work eligibility. And, "every employer in America must use a new employment verification form that immigration officials say will help reduce document fraud." Click to read the Chronicle article.

Like the butterfly ballot in the 2000 US presidential election, forms are once again in the headlines. The change to the I-9 represents one of the first defenses in the battle against document fraud used for employee identity and work eligibility. And, all it takes is a paper form.

Have you seen forms in the headlines? Do tell! Add a comment below to share it with us.

The Baby Goes Out with the Bath Water

By: Margaret Tassin, CFSP, CDC
Program Council, Director of Education

Forms capture and organize information; they help implement policies and procedures; and, sometimes, they can even help to save lives.

The NY Times recently published an opinion describing how a simple checklist form used with a particular type of step-by-step care reduced I.V. line infections by two-thirds, cut the infection rate from 4 percent to zero and saved more than 1,500 lives and nearly $200 million over an 18-month period. The five step checklist included procedures such as hand washing and donning sterile gloves. But the checklist had to be withdrawn because "by introducing a checklist and tracking the results without written, informed consent from each patient and health-care provider, they had violated scientific ethics regulations." Bureaucracy trumps logic. The importance of form tools cannot be overstated. While the checklist form represented only the face of the procedure to reduce infections in that hospital setting, removing it from use sabotaged the workflow beyond repair and obliterated an otherwise effective and valuable process that saved lives.

Read the full article here.