Appendix G Using Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
Introduction This technical specification defines the features of a mail piece eligible for the OCR service. Any feature of a mail piece design that does not comply with this specification is not permitted unless it has been tested and approved by Royal Mail prior to posting. These guidelines are in essence the standards of ‘normal’ paper and – unless the customer uses an unusual type of paper – your items will probably comply. Issues such as colour, design and layout of items are covered later in this appendix. OCR mail is processed by machines which operate at high speeds. These machines integrate stacker feeder systems, belts and pulleys to process and sort the mail through its journey prior to delivery. The sorting
process requires mail pieces to be presented and process through different machines on several occasions (as many as five or six times) so it is necessary that each mail piece is within the physical and material parameters of the specification so it achieves efficient processing with no damage to the machine or mail piece. This appendix has been broken into sections representing the key stages of mail piece creation with each section setting out the specification requirements. The flow chart on following, is designed to provide a high level summary of order and content of these processes with additional explanatory information to help understand why specific attributes are required.
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