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DMM REVISION
Premium Forwarding Service
Effective August 7, 2005, Mailing Standards of the
United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual
(DMM®) 709.8 is added to provide the rates and fees, eligibility criteria, standards, and classification information for
the 2-year Premium Forwarding Service (PFS) experiment.
The Postal ServiceTM is conducting this nationwide experiment to measure interest in a new service that ships
mail to residential customers who are away from their primary address for at least 2 weeks and up to 1 year. PFS
generally provides a shipment of a customer's mail every
Wednesday from their primary address to their temporary
address by Priority Mail® service. Customers pay an initial
enrollment fee of $10, plus a weekly per-shipment charge
of $10.
Express Mail® and Priority Mail packages that are too
large to fit inside the weekly PFS package are immediately
and separately rerouted at no additional charge. Package
Services parcels that are too large to fit inside the PFS
package are rerouted with postage due. All mail requiring a
delivery scan or a signature also is separately rerouted.
Customers cannot have a temporary or permanent forwarding order active with enrollment in PFS.
Look for the Premium Forwarding Service Field Implementation Kit in the July 7 Postal Bulletin. It provides more
information about the PFS experiment, along with helpful
tools for Post OfficesTM.
We will incorporate these revisions into the printed version of the DMM and into the August update of the online
version available via Postal Explorer® at pe.usps.com.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal
Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
* * * * *
700 Special Standards
* * * * *
709 Experimental Classifications and Rates
* * * * *
[Add new 709.8 to read as follows:]
8.0 Premium Forwarding Service
8.1 Description and Purpose
Premium Forwarding Service (PFS) is a 2-year experiment
that, upon payment of postage and fees, provides
residential delivery customers and certain post office box
customers an option to have all mail addressed to their primary address reshipped or rerouted to a temporary
address mainly by means of a weekly Priority Mail shipment. PFS is available for a period of not less than 2 weeks
and not more than 1 year. This optional service is in addition to the current piece-by-piece forwarding service
currently offered by USPS, whereby only certain mailpieces
are forwarded.
8.2 Eligibility
8.2.1 Use
Participation in PFS is subject to the following standards:
a. PFS is available to residential delivery customers
and all size-one or size-two post office box
customers.
b. A customer must submit a completed PFS application, Form 8176, to the post office (or a station or
branch of that post office) responsible for delivery to
the customer's primary address. The enrollment fee
and reshipment charges for the full duration of requested service must accompany the application
form.
c. Customers must designate on the application form
whether the order is for an "individual" or an "entire
household."
d. PFS is available for a period of not less than 2 weeks
and not more than 1 year.
e. PFS is available only from and to domestic
addresses.
f. PFS is available to, but not from, central point delivery addresses, APO and FPO addresses, and U.S.
State Department addresses.
8.2.2 Prohibited Use
Customers cannot have a temporary or permanent forwarding order active simultaneously with enrollment in
PFS. PFS cannot be combined with any ancillary or extra
services beyond those purchased by the original sender. In
addition, PFS is not available for:
a. Customers whose primary address is a size-three,
size-four, or size-five post office box. Residential customers who use these post office box sizes due to the
unavailability of smaller boxes may request a waiver
of this restriction.
b. Customers whose primary address is a business
delivery address.
c. Customers whose primary address
is a central point to which the USPS provides delivery in bulk to a third
party, such as a commercial mail receiving agency (CMRA), RV park, trailer
park, or hotel.
8.3 Rates and Fees
8.3.1 Enrollment
Customers must pay a $10.00 nonrefundable
enrollment fee.
8.3.2 Charge Per Reshipment
The reshipment charge for each Priority
Mail shipment is $10.00 for each week of service requested.
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8.4 Extension or Early Termination
8.4.1 Early Termination of Service
A customer who terminates PFS early (e.g., a customer
prepays for 10 weeks but returns to a primary address after
8 weeks) may request a refund for any unused weekly shipment charges from the post office serving the primary
address. The enrollment fee is nonrefundable.
8.4.2 Extension of Service
A PFS customer may contact the post office responsible for
delivery to the primary address prior to the termination date
and extend PFS service (up to 1 year maximum service
from the initial start date) as needed. An extension is processed only after the post office receives payment of all
postage and fees for the extension.
8.5 Disposition of PFS Mail
8.5.1 Weekly Priority Mail Reshipments
Regardless of any endorsement on a mailpiece, all mail is
reshipped in the weekly Priority Mail shipment, except as
specified in 5.2 through 5.5.
8.5.2 Mailpieces Requiring a Scan or Signature at
Delivery
Mailpieces requiring a scan or signature at delivery (e.g.,
Express Mail, Certified Mail, numbered insured mail, mailpieces with Delivery Confirmation) are appropriately
scanned, then immediately and separately rerouted to the
temporary address, subject to the following:
a. Express Mail, Priority Mail, and First-Class Mail are
rerouted at no additional charge.
b. Standard Mail and Package Services mailpieces are
rerouted postage due at the appropriate Priority Mail
rate.
8.5.3 Priority Mail Not Requiring a Scan or
Signature at Delivery
Priority Mail that does not require a scan or signature at
delivery is immediately and separately rerouted to the
temporary address, unless it will fit into the weekly Priority
Mail shipment and such inclusion does not delay its delivery to the temporary address.
8.5.4 Large Packages Not Requiring a Scan or
Signature at Delivery
Packages that do not fit into the weekly Priority Mail shipment and do not require a scan or signature at delivery are
separately rerouted to the temporary address, subject to
the following:
a. First-Class Mail and Periodicals parcels (firm
bundles) are rerouted at no additional charge.
b. Standard Mail and Package Services parcels are rerouted postage due at the appropriate Priority Mail
rate.
c. Oversized Parcel Post parcels are rerouted postage
due at the appropriate oversized Parcel Post rate.
8.5.5 Mailpieces Arriving Postage Due at the
Primary Address
Any mailpiece arriving postage due at the post office
serving a PFS customer's primary address is not reshipped
in the weekly Priority Mail shipment and will be rerouted
individually. Pieces arriving postage due are rerouted as
follows:
a. Postage due First-Class Mail pieces are rerouted as
First-Class Mail postage due. Only the original postage due amount is collected. There is no additional
charge for rerouting the mailpiece.
b. Postage due Priority Mail pieces are rerouted as
Priority Mail postage due. Only the original postage
due amount is collected. There is no additional
charge for rerouting the mailpiece.
c. Postage due for all Package Services pieces, other
than oversized Parcel Post pieces, are rerouted as
Priority Mail. The total postage due for Package
Services pieces is the sum of the postage due at the
time of receipt at the primary post office plus the postage due for rerouting the piece from the primary post
office to the temporary post office at the appropriate
Priority Mail rate.
d. Postage due oversized Parcel Post pieces are rerouted as Parcel Post. The total postage due is the
sum of the postage due at the time of receipt at the
primary post office and the postage due for rerouting
the piece from the primary post office to the
temporary post office at the appropriate oversized
Parcel Post rate.
8.6 USPS Responsibility
The delivery post office serving a PFS customer's primary
address must:
a. Prepare and send the PFS shipments once each
week, on Wednesdays.
b. Ensure that PFS shipments end in accordance with
the original or revised end date specified on the application form, and that delivery to the primary
address begins (or holding mail commences under
507.3.4.4) as designated by the customer.
c. Ensure that Label 85 (Permit No. G-400) is properly
affixed to each reshipped PFS Priority Mail package.
Postage meter or PVI postage must not be affixed.
— Mailing Standards,
Pricing and Classification, 6-23-05
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