PIN vs ZIP

Most people understand that logging on (as you must do before reaching the member only part of the USPS website) using a certificate number and ZIP code is far from secure. To make this identification process more certain, we elected to assign a unique PIN to every member. Now we could have sent a notification letter to each member via first class mail, but the costs would have been prohibitive. Instead, to save money, we elected to include the PIN code notification as part of the dues renewal package that goes to each member a couple of months before their membership renewal date.
Unfortunately, members have either

• 
  discarded the mail without reading it;
• 
  wrongly inferred from the fact that it came with the dues renewal package that it was now necessary to use the PIN to logon to pay dues online;
• 
  read the instructions on the yellow insert and followed them.
  

Because we were getting so many questions, we put up a lengthy explanation on the Information Center pages explaining how to recover from a lost PIN, etc.
http://www.usps.org/cgi-bin-nat/tools/pages.cgi?pins

The PIN code has nothing to do with paying dues. Sometime within the next year when you receive your dues renewal, look for the PIN code and yellow insert and follow the instructions on it.

When all of this has settled down, and everyone has a PIN code and has chosen a security question and answer, we will be able to create web based facilities that require absolute identification of the member on the other end of the connection.

R/C John R. Bradley, SN