Method and system for instruction-based collating of unaddressed flats and addressed mail

摘要

The invention is directed to a method of sorting mail and collating flats to form stop-sequence mail for a mail carrier, wherein the method comprises:
receiving flats for delivery to mail stops on a delivery route of the mail carrier;
receiving collation instructions regarding desired delivery of the flats, separate from any material included in or printed on the flats;
automatically storting mail in stop-sequence order for mail stops on a delivery route of the mail carrier, the sorted stop-sequence mail comprising a grouping of one or more mail pieces intented for delivery to each of a plurality of the mail stops on the delivery route of the mail carrier; and
automatically adding the flats during sorting of the mail, so as to include one of the flats in each of a plurality of the groupings of the sorted stop-sequence mail, based on the received collation instructions.