Is the Local User Group in your area meeting this week? Have you checked with members of the group to see if they are finding meetings beneficial? Would you like up-to-the-minute information on new Group 1 releases? Product ideas? Is there a more effective way to use your Group 1 products, or perhaps a new way to apply them that you hadn't thought of before? Check the Local User Group listings below for a meeting in your area and get the answers to some of these questions and more.

FLORIDA

Location:	Time Customer Service, 1 N Dale Mabry Hwy Fl 13, Tampa, Florida
Date:	Thursday, March 13, 2003
Time:	9:00 a.m. - late afternoon
Topic:	TBA
Contact:	Jeff Luther - Jeffrey.Luther@custserv.com

NORTH CAROLINA

Location:	The Charlotte Observer, 600 South Tryon Street, Charlotte, North Carolina
Date:	Thursday, February 20, 2003
Time:	9:00 a.m.
Topic:	TBA
Contact:	Kimberly Sherman - KJSHERMA@CHARLOTTEOBSERVER.COM

PENNSYLVANIA AREA

Location:	UGI Utilities, Inc., 225 Morgantown Rd, Reading, Pennsylvania
Date:	Wednesday, February 12, 2003
Time:	9:00 a.m.
Topic:	TBA
Contact:	Susan Miller - smmiller@ugi.com and Dennis Bratcher - dbratcher@dimarkinc.com

TEXAS AREA

Location:	Group 1 Austin, 10535 Boyer Boulevard, Suite 100, Austin, Texas
Date:	March 18, 2003
Time:	9:00 to a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Topic:	This group has decided to meet twice a year in March and September for a full day. Some of the topics selected include What's New with the USPS, Overview of Group 1 products, Best Practices (return codes, matching, etc.), success stories (what has CODE-1 Plus done for you - hit rates went up, ROI). Please submit additional topics should be submitted to the contact persons below.
Contact:	Fred Hoffman - fhoffman@tad.org and Laura Dennis - LDENNIS@dot.state.tx.us

Gone are the days of searching for a diskette in order to submit your monthly MOVEforward log reports to the USPS. The FASTforward Department is now accepting monthly log reports via email submission. To find out how to take advantage of this option, contact Carrie Feldhaus of the USPS at 901-681-4472.

Group 1 recently announced the release of CODE-1 Plus International 1.6.0, its global address data quality solution. This release is the first solution from a North American software vendor incorporating data from the POST*CODEŽ Database, which is administered by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and contains postal data from postal administrations worldwide. Headquartered in Berne, Switzerland, the UPU is a specialized agency of the United Nations. The UPU's POST*CODEŽ Database contains postal data for all United Nations signatories and is designed to allow postal service customers to eliminate addressing errors.

CCODE-1 Plus International 1.6.0 incorporates postal data for over 120 countries, enabling users to validate and correct address information. The solution also provides the correct address format and casing for over 220 countries and dependencies worldwide. With high-quality address data, users can enhance the accuracy of data quality initiatives and the impact of global direct marketing programs.

The remainder of the UPU's database will be incorporated into CODE-1 Plus International by way of the regular quarterly database updates. Below you will find the International Database Specifications for Version 1.6.0:

Category "A" Countries (34 Countries effective 11/02)

Category "B" Countries (88 Countries effective 11/02)

Back issues of NewsCast are being archived. Click previous issues to go the NewsCast homepage to review any prior issues.

Below are some links that may be of interest to our customers:

Group 1's Web Page - http://www.g1.com. The Group 1 Software Web site provides customers with valuable information concerning different areas of the company. From this Web site, you can access education information, recent press releases, support, and much more useful information.

USPS Web Site Business Section - http://www.usps.com/smallbiz

The USPS Web Site - www.usps.gov. This Web site allows customers to check out the latest information regarding postage rates and fees, news and events in the postal community, locations of local post offices, and provides various other links. There is also a place where postal service customers can track the status of a package or access other online mailing forms.

Canada Post - http://www.canadapost.ca/splash.asp. This is the direct link to the Canada Post Web site.

USPS PostalOne - http://www.pilot.uspspostalone.com. This is the direct link to the USPS PostalOne Web site.

USPS Rapid Information Bulletin Board System - http://ribbs.usps.gov. This is the National Customer Support Center for the United States Postal Service. It provides you mail-service updates, current weather conditions, and other interesting facts pertaining to the Postal Service.

Postal Rate Commission - http://www.prc.gov. The Postal Rate Commission Web site provides information about the organization, its function and procedures, along with postal rates and fees. It also provides a location where you can voice your opinion to the Consumer Advocate.

Nonprofit Mailers - http://www.nonprofitmailers.org. The Alliance is the primary representative of nonprofit mailers before the Postal Rate Commission, at the United States Postal Service's (USPS) Headquarters, and on Capitol Hill.

Postcom - http://www.postcom.org. Postcom is the Association for Postal Commerce. Its Web site provides you with up-to-date information regarding what is going on in the "postal world." It includes links to other helpful sites, as well as a place to contact your US Senators or Representatives.