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The typical account information line printed at the bottom of your typical credit card statement or utility bill is printed in a font known as OCR-A. Equipment for machine reading this type of font has been around for over 25 years, such as some of the old Banctec 4300 series workstations used for processing bill payments and checks. Even these 1970s era machines had better than a 95 percent read rate of the entire account information line, provided that the printing was clear and properly placed. Later machines, such as the NCR 7780 or the OPEX Eagle can have better than a 99 percent read rate of a full line of characters. Again, the usual limitations on reliability of OCR characters are a result of poor or mislocated printing, or stray marks in the OCR field. Here is the obligatory Wikipedia link if you interested in finding out a bit more about the history of Optical Character Recognition.

MICR fonts, which are those funny looking numbers printed in magnetic ink at the bottom of most checks are designed to be human recognizable but machine readable, and have been around since the '60s. OCRA typically beats MICR today, but a good MICR line is still readable over 95 percent of the time.

Handwritten fonts are the most difficult to read, but the technology has been available to read handwritten numbers and letters for over 10 years, but typical read rates for something like a handwritten zip code or the numerical amount written on a check range from 60 to 80 percent, and are slowly getting better. Again, a lot depends on how much care is taken when writing out the text, and what kind of background clutter is present.

As for me, I typed out school reports in 8th grade in 1973, when our family's word processing hardware consisted of a 1940's vintage Underwood typewriter. Even humans had difficulty decoding my handwriting!

I'd guess yes, at no point in the process does a human see it.

Here's one vendor -- OPEX. This one does opening and extraction but isn't particularly fast at 17,000/hr. They have a scanning solution as well -- significantly slower but the mail goes straight from envelope to scan.

This is just what I've found in a quick search because I knew something like it existed; I'm not that familiar with the high-speed mail processing industry. I'd imagine that the technology would surprise most people.

I'd guess yes, at no point in the process does a human see it.

Here's one vendor -- OPEX. This one does opening and extraction but isn't particularly fast at 17,000/hr. They have a scanning solution as well -- significantly slower but the mail goes straight from envelope to scan.

This is just what I've found in a quick search because I knew something like it existed; I'm not that familiar with the high-speed mail processing industry. I'd imagine that the technology would surprise most people.

As someone who has worn glasses since my earliest memories, I treat them as an extension of my body. Being farsighted, I have always seemed to be playing catch up between lenses strong enough to read comfortably, but not too strong to interfere with driving. From the time I was a small child, my precscription gradually increased from +3.75/+4 to +5.75/+6.25 by the time I hit the big four oh.

Just as you seem to be doing, I resisted my optometrist/opthamologist's early hints and suggestions to consider bifocals, as just his way of improving the bottom line of the overpriced optician that was colocated in his office. I figured he got a piece of the action for every customer he personally escorted to their counter.
I also couldn't stomach paying the $500 I would certainly be pressured into paying for their top of the line featherweight no-line bifocals by the time I got them into a good set of spring-templed stainless steel frames.

I held out for another year or so, but got tired of trying having to focus on my monitor from 3 feet away, and having to put the newspaper on the floor to read it. Next eye appointment I knew what was coming, but I was ready with several hundred bucks in my FSA. I fell for the opthamologist's FUD about any other optician than their's and expected the worst.

450 bucks and a week later I had my new top of the line no-line bifocals. The new lenses took about a week to get adjusted to, but overall I have been pleased with the results. My line of sight for driving is perfectly natural, and I don't even have to move my head to read the instruments. Using a computer at a desk is also in a natural position, but the eye level monitors on the System 150 and similar equipment I work on force me to crane my neck a bit to see well. Fortunately, I only have to interact with those monitors for a few minutes at a time.

A year later, I brought a pair of similar prescription polarized sunglasses for driving and motorcycling at an optician inside a Wal-Mart and paid about 100 bucks less, but they still set me back about 3 bills. They are okay, but are made to a slightly stronger prescription than my regular glasses, and cause a bit of eyestrain to switch back and forth between my regular glasses. I wish I had demanded an identical prescription, but it is too late to do anything about it now.

I wish I had done it 5 years sooner. If you have to wear glasses anyway, it is more convenient and easier on your eyes to deal with one pair of glasses rather than 2. A decent optometrist/opthamologist can specify a base curve
suitable for optimal computer use, without compromising your vision during other activities.

As someone who has worn glasses since my earliest memories, I treat them as an extension of my body. Being farsighted, I have always seemed to be playing catch up between lenses strong enough to read comfortably, but not too strong to interfere with driving. From the time I was a small child, my precscription gradually increased from +3.75/+4 to +5.75/+6.25 by the time I hit the big four oh.

Just as you seem to be doing, I resisted my optometrist/opthamologist's early hints and suggestions to consider bifocals, as just his way of improving the bottom line of the overpriced optician that was colocated in his office. I figured he got a piece of the action for every customer he personally escorted to their counter.
I also couldn't stomach paying the $500 I would certainly be pressured into paying for their top of the line featherweight no-line bifocals by the time I got them into a good set of spring-templed stainless steel frames.

I held out for another year or so, but got tired of trying having to focus on my monitor from 3 feet away, and having to put the newspaper on the floor to read it. Next eye appointment I knew what was coming, but I was ready with several hundred bucks in my FSA. I fell for the opthamologist's FUD about any other optician than their's and expected the worst.

450 bucks and a week later I had my new top of the line no-line bifocals. The new lenses took about a week to get adjusted to, but overall I have been pleased with the results. My line of sight for driving is perfectly natural, and I don't even have to move my head to read the instruments. Using a computer at a desk is also in a natural position, but the eye level monitors on the System 150 and similar equipment I work on force me to crane my neck a bit to see well. Fortunately, I only have to interact with those monitors for a few minutes at a time.

A year later, I brought a pair of similar prescription polarized sunglasses for driving and motorcycling at an optician inside a Wal-Mart and paid about 100 bucks less, but they still set me back about 3 bills. They are okay, but are made to a slightly stronger prescription than my regular glasses, and cause a bit of eyestrain to switch back and forth between my regular glasses. I wish I had demanded an identical prescription, but it is too late to do anything about it now.

I wish I had done it 5 years sooner. If you have to wear glasses anyway, it is more convenient and easier on your eyes to deal with one pair of glasses rather than 2.

The USPS does a pretty good job of delivering conforming mail to the high-volume incoming mail operations I work in, mostly remittance processors. Credit card and other bill issuers don't include an envelope just to be nice (just look how evil they can be in other aspects of their business), they include a return envelope to streamline processing. A good return envelope will be decently constructed, of a standard size, and include either a preprinted postnet bar code on the envelope, or on the part of the statement which shows through the window. The window itself is a feature which facilitates efficient handling once it reaches the incoming mail area, ensuring that the statement and enclosed checks, money orders, etc. are in a predictable position in the envelope. This facilitates processing by automated machinery such as this and eases manual processing on machines such as this.

Contrast this environment with my recent experience sending in 3 seperate rebates in order to reduce the cost of my Tax Cut program with the included E-filing fees from about $80 to $35 or so. I had to search over the whole pile of advertisements and coupons to find the necessary coupons, cut 2 coupons out of a booklet, and cut the UPC from the cardboard boxes which the programs were enclosed in. I also had to provide 3 of my own envelopes to send them in, each addressed to seperate P.O. boxes, all to the same Zip Code in El Paso TX.

Using my knowledge of remittance centers in general, my picture of this particular mailroom isn't very pretty. Receiving millions of rebate requests per month, from hundreds of constantly changing PO boxes, the incoming mail arrives as a jumble of random types of envelopes. The contents in these envelopes is a random combination of being taped, folded, stapled, and paperclipped together, and in random order in the envelopes. All of this work is processed by a small army of poorly paid processing clerks. Based on the location (El Paso, TX) many of these clerks probably have only a tenuous hold on the English language.

Under the current system, there is no hope of being able to process this work automatically, or even efficiently process it on semi-automated workstations. Errors will abound, lost and misrouted mail will be common, and stacked up all over the place. Rebate coupons expire in the waiting trays as indifferent and poorly trained clerks fumble to try to keep this mess under control. There is no urgency to process this work, as the company has no incentive to process it quickly or accurately, like bill payments are.

If the rebate processing business was like the payment processing centers of major banks, credit card agencies, etc. then the customer would merely have to include a coupon or two into the provided envelope. The work could be processed by automated equipment, imaged inline, then payments could be sent with 99.9 percent accuracy, and the customer would receive their check less than two weeks after they mailed it. On a per-transaction basis, it is much cheaper to have a process designed around automated processing than to do it the way they are probably doing it now. Either the processing center managers are ignorant of modern processing techniques, or they benefit by the current chaos within their walls.

The USPS does a pretty good job of delivering conforming mail to the high-volume incoming mail operations I work in, mostly remittance processors. Credit card and other bill issuers don't include an envelope just to be nice (just look how evil they can be in other aspects of their business), they include a return envelope to streamline processing. A good return envelope will be decently constructed, of a standard size, and include either a preprinted postnet bar code on the envelope, or on the part of the statement which shows through the window. The window itself is a feature which facilitates efficient handling once it reaches the incoming mail area, ensuring that the statement and enclosed checks, money orders, etc. are in a predictable position in the envelope. This facilitates processing by automated machinery such as this and eases manual processing on machines such as this.

Contrast this environment with my recent experience sending in 3 seperate rebates in order to reduce the cost of my Tax Cut program with the included E-filing fees from about $80 to $35 or so. I had to search over the whole pile of advertisements and coupons to find the necessary coupons, cut 2 coupons out of a booklet, and cut the UPC from the cardboard boxes which the programs were enclosed in. I also had to provide 3 of my own envelopes to send them in, each addressed to seperate P.O. boxes, all to the same Zip Code in El Paso TX.

Using my knowledge of remittance centers in general, my picture of this particular mailroom isn't very pretty. Receiving millions of rebate requests per month, from hundreds of constantly changing PO boxes, the incoming mail arrives as a jumble of random types of envelopes. The contents in these envelopes is a random combination of being taped, folded, stapled, and paperclipped together, and in random order in the envelopes. All of this work is processed by a small army of poorly paid processing clerks. Based on the location (El Paso, TX) many of these clerks probably have only a tenuous hold on the English language.

Under the current system, there is no hope of being able to process this work automatically, or even efficiently process it on semi-automated workstations. Errors will abound, lost and misrouted mail will be common, and stacked up all over the place. Rebate coupons expire in the waiting trays as indifferent and poorly trained clerks fumble to try to keep this mess under control. There is no urgency to process this work, as the company has no incentive to process it quickly or accurately, like bill payments are.

If the rebate processing business was like the payment processing centers of major banks, credit card agencies, etc. then the customer would merely have to include a coupon or two into the provided envelope. The work could be processed by automated equipment, imaged inline, then payments could be sent with 99.9 percent accuracy, and the customer would receive their check less than two weeks after they mailed it. On a per-transaction basis, it is much cheaper to have a process designed around automated processing than to do it the way they are probably doing it now. Either the processing center managers are ignorant of modern processing techniques, or they benefit by the current chaos within their walls.

I have worked in a remittance processing environment for nearly 13 years. Payment processing of standard bill payments for large credit card issuers is more automated than you can imagine. Remittance envelopes and the statements inside are usually designed for quick efficient processing by automated equipment. Equipment such as this and this make quick work of most payments with minimal staff. Check 21 promises to streamline processing of paper checks even further.

Online payments often go through middlemen, who take a cut of the action, and whose payments are then processed manually by the bank. It can take longer to credit and clear an online payment than a standard payment.

I have worked in a remittance processing environment for nearly 13 years. Payment processing of standard bill payments for large credit card issuers is more automated than you can imagine. Remittance envelopes and the statements inside are usually designed for quick efficient processing by automated equipment. Equipment such as this and this make quick work of most payments with minimal staff. Check 21 promises to streamline processing of paper checks even further.

Online payments often go through middlemen, who take a cut of the action, and whose payments are then processed manually by the bank. It can take longer to credit and clear an online payment than a standard payment.

I work in the payment processing industry, and here is the real reason: Internet bill pay is still often done through a middleman, who takes a cut to set up an electronic transfer through the customer's checking account, then issues a paper check to the payment processors, even with large credit card companies. This was the case a couple of years ago when I investigated doing this for my MBNA Account. The kicker was that the internet bill pay option required more time for the payment to clear than simply sending in a check directly to the processing center. In the business, these are called Pay By Phones, and are processed manually. Ordinary payments in high volume shops are processed on sophisticated high speed equipment such as this beast.

This is beginning to change, I know that Verizon and a few other companies are starting to do this on their own, but the vast majority of payments are still the ubiquitous paper checks, or electronic and automatic payments are made by debiting a customer's credit card.

I happen to work on these machines, and I can definitely say that staples, folded checks, and extra slips of paper will not generally stop one of these machines, but the machine will sort it into a bin for manual processing. It cuts the throughput of the high speed equipment a bit, but it means that generally an overworked, underpaid drone will have to destaple the check manually.

Often though, payments are not processed by the company on the stub, but rather they are sent to a lockbox operation, such as a large bank, or a company that specializes in payment processing such as Regulus . Unless you have inside information about the PO box that shows through the window on the return envelope, it is hard to know who actually processes a particular payment.

In general, if you want your payment processed as quickly, accurately, and uneventfully as possible, it is best to bow to the machine's desires. The preprinted postnets on the statements or envelopes will speed your payment quickly through the postal service's high speed sorters, and they win the race to reach the processing floor at the bank or lockbox. White mail and damaged mail gets sorted last, and generally gets processed last when it gets to the bank. The high speed work is always the first priority, outsorts and white mail usually wait.

Most people use the mail system to send their bill payments for everything from internet service to septic bills, and of course credit card payments. The processing centers that receive these payments often process millions of payments every month. Processing all this mail has become as high tech as the post office high speed sorters, a far cry from the armies of billing clerks that processed the credit cards and utility bills a generation ago. This link to the company I work for provides a good window into the technology used to process all of this mail.