The Postal Service™ is introducing a growth incentive program for mailers who increase their saturation Standard Mail® letters or flats volume within the established program period, which runs from May 11, 2008, to May 10, 2009. Mailers may elect to participate in the program either by demonstrating growth within their total mailed volume or by demonstrating growth within a defined market area. Mailers interested in participating must apply before June 11, 2009.
The incentive program provides a per-piece credit to the approved mailer’s Centralized Account Payment System (CAPS) at the end of the program period. The verified incremental volume must exceed the base volume demonstrated in the previous year dating from May 11, 2008, to May 10, 2009.
For example, a mailer of saturation flats, demonstrating a volume of 1 million pieces in the year from May 11, 2008, to May 10, 2009, who then mails 1.2 million pieces during the program period, will receive a credit of $0.04 for the incremental volume of 200,000 pieces (or $8,000.00) at the close of the program.
Participating mailers must pay postage through a permit imprint advance deposit account at the time of application and must have a functioning CAPS account prior to the close of the program period. Each permit imprint advance deposit account used for the payment of postage for saturation mailings must be established at a postal facility having PostalOne!® capability.
Participating mailers will receive credits to their CAPS accounts for the verified incremental volume as follows:
n Standard Mail saturation letters: $0.037 per piece.
n Nonprofit Standard Mail saturation letters: $0.022 per piece.
n Standard Mail saturation flats $0.04 per piece.
n Nonprofit Standard Mail saturation flats $0.024 per piece.
In order to provide greater availability for mailers to participate in other USPS®-sponsored volume incentive programs, the Postal Service will revise standards, previously published in Federal Register final rule (74 FR 8009–8033) published February 23, 2009, that restricted participants of this program from mailing through a Negotiated Service Agreement (NSA) or through other incentive programs. Consequently, Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) standards in 243.1.9.1 and 343.1.7.1 will be revised to remove this restriction.
Mailers wishing to participate in the saturation mail volume incentive program for Standard Mail items must submit a letter requesting participation to their district manager, Business Mail Entry (go to Postal Explorer® at http://pe.usps.com and click Postal Locator, then Business Mail Entry for contact information). Requests must be completed and submitted by an authorized official of the business or nonprofit entity that owns the mail. For the purposes of participation in this program, an entity is defined as the parent organization. Franchisees that are not separate business entities may not apply for the incentive independently of the parent organization. Printers and mailing agents may not request participation on behalf of customers for which they prepare the mail. Participating mailers must be able to demonstrate saturation mailing activity in both the 2007 and 2008 calendar years, and a minimum of six saturation mailings in the 2008 calendar year.
Mailers who choose to participate only within a defined market area must demonstrate volume growth, within a specific USPS sectional center facility (SCF) service area, during the program period to qualify for the incentive. Mailers requesting credit for participation within a defined market area must submit mailing documentation electronically to the Postal Service using a USPS-approved method (e.g., Mail.dat) at the time of application and for all mailings during their participation in the program. Mailers selecting this option must demonstrate saturation mail volume to ZIP™ Codes within the specified SCF(s) in both the 2007 and 2008 calendar years, and must demonstrate a minimum of six saturation mailings to the specified SCF(s) in the 2008 calendar year.
Mailers interested in participating in this program may obtain additional information from their district manager, Business Mail Entry and on the USPS Rapid Information Bulletin Board (RIBBS™) website at http://ribbs.usps.gov/, click Site Index A–Z, then Saturation Mail Incentive Program.
This revision, along with the revisions for the May price change; will be incorporated into the next printed version of the DMM® and into the next update of the online DMM available via Postal Explorer® at http://pe.usps.com.
— Mailing Standards,
Pricing, 4-23-09
