Believe it or not, this issue marks the second anniversary of the Utility Information Pipeline! As 2012 draws to a close, it seems appropriate to take a look back at the year…

Newsletter subscribers

Over the course of 2012, subscribers to the Utility Information Pipeline increased by 25%. I’ve received several e-mails and phone calls from subscribers complimenting me on the content of various articles. It’s always good to know that people read (and appreciate) what I write!

With that in mind, if you have co-workers or colleagues who you feel would benefit from subscribing to my newsletter, please take a minute and forward this to them.

Most popular blog posts

If you aren’t aware, I post each Utility Information Pipeline issue to my blog as an archive of past issues. Instead of searching through old e-mails to look for previous issues, my blog is a great resource to find them.

Search engines also send traffic to my blog. Based on web searches, the three most popular blog posts this year have been those dealing with convenience fees, Intelligent Mail barcodes and meter reading best practices.

Speaking of Intelligent Mail barcodes, the deadline for implementing IMb is January 28, 2013. If you are currently receiving automation discounts from the Postal Service, and are still printing POSTNET bar codes, those discounts will expire on January 28.

New, mobile device friendly e-mail format

MailChimp, the e-mail service I use to send these e-mails, recently updated their e-mail templates to include more mobile device-friendly options. This e-mail is the first I’ve sent using the new template, so if you read the Utility Information Pipeline on your phone or tablet, please let me know if this issue looks different (aka better) than previous issues.

I’m always looking for ideas for articles

After two years, I’m not completely out of ideas for articles, but I don’t have a huge backlog of topics like I did when I started! If you have an idea or suggestion of a topic that you would like to learn more about, please give me a call at 919-673-4050 or e-mail me at gsanders@edmundsgovtech.com.

Happy New Year!

I wish you and yours all the best for a healthy, prosperous 2013!