Post Office Quality Terms

• Businesses must follow the post office's quality standards for preparing mail. Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images

  Businesses must ensure their internal mailing services match the standards performed by the United States Postal Services. The USPS has quality terms, under the Mail Preparation Total Quality Management program, for business' internal mailing departments certified as presort bureaus, consolidators and list mailers for all sized mail pieces.

Document Control

• Terms of quality must ensure all postal services handle documents and records to meet standards. Documentation of management methodologies concerning internal control operations need to state who is authorized to handle the documents, identification and updating, and the process of handling obsolete forms. Postal services must prevent alternation of records in both paper format and electronically stored. Policies must state how electronic records are stored to ensure safety precautions of the sensitive materials.

Auditing

• Quality terms should consist of auditing procedures done in quarterly intervals, after the certification process of completing a minimum of three audits with the approval of the last one. These audits need to be submitted to receive certification and re-certification. Postal services insure quality of mailing procedures by submitting copies to audits to the United States Postal Service to certify all standards have been meet.

Prevention and Correction

• Postal services should seek appropriate procedures to maintain postal quality management. Preventive measures should be proactive based to evaluate operations for the customers in approving quality. When problems arise, postal service should handle complaints with fair and impartial understanding instead of simply reacting to negative circumstances. The postal services should investigate and identify the problem to initiate swift corrective action.