Effective February 2, 2009, the Postal Service™ is revising Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM®) subchapters 260, 290, and 310 to clarify the eligibility for M-bags, which are direct sacks of printed matter mailed to a single foreign addressee. Additionally, we have reorganized these sections to clarify the following three types of M-bags: Airmail M-bags, International Priority Airmail™ (IPA®) M-bags, and International Surface Air Lift® (ISAL®) M-bags.
This revision also codifies that, when IPA and ISAL M–bags are dropped at an International Service Center (ISC), the drop shipment is not subject to the 11-pound minimum price; rather, it is subject to the 5-pound minimum price.
We have retitled “Merchandise” in IMM 261.22 to “Other Articles.” This designation more closely aligns our standards to the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Convention, and more accurately conveys that the additional articles enclosed with printed matter in M-bags are not for resale.
Finally, after further investigation into UPU requirements, specifically UPU Convention Article 12, this revision modifies the article titled “IMM Revision: M-Bag Clarification” in Postal Bulletin 22231 (4-24-08, page 15), which stipulated that the maximum weight of printed matter articles in an M-bag sack could not exceed 4 pounds. We have reversed our previous position and will remove this condition from the IMM.
We will incorporate these revisions into the next printed version of the IMM and into the monthly update of the online IMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at http://pe.usps.com.
— Mailing Standards,
Pricing, 1-29-09
