Premium Forwarding Service Helps Customers and Generates Additional Revenue!

Premium Forwarding Service (PFS) is a popular and growing service that is especially appealing to customers when they are away from home in the summer and winter months. PFS is a personalized service designed for resi­dential customers who want to receive all of their mail at a temporary address while away from their permanent address for an extended period — from 2 weeks up to 1 year. After the customer completes and submits the PFS application (PS Form 8176) and pays the required fees, the Postal Service™ bundles and reships mail to the tem­porary address for a customer or household. Most mail is reshipped once a week via Priority Mail^® service.

PFS Promotional Materials

We have updated the PFS promotional materials to reflect pricing based on the May 14, 2007, rate case imple­mentation. All Post Offices™ should immediately remove and recycle previous editions of Publication 615 and Sign 615 and should confirm that current editions of the following PFS point-of-sale materials are on display on a writing table in the full-service lobby.

• Publication 615, Premium Forwarding Service (brochure).
• Sign 615, Take Your Mailbox With You (PFS countercard).

We have also updated PS Form 8176, Premium Forwarding Service (PFS) Application. Post Offices may use previous editions of PS Form 8176 until they receive the revised editions — however, in paragraph 6 under “Terms and Conditions” (on the original and all copies of the application), Postal Service personnel should use a pen to mark out the old weekly reshipping price of $10.40 and write in the new weekly reshipping price of $11.95.

The ordering information for these items is included later in this article.

Tips for Post Office Personnel

Here are some tips to help employees responsible for processing PFS applications and shipments:

• Be sure that the customer provides the start and end dates on the PFS application. When the end date is not certain, ask the customer to estimate the date because this is the only way to accurately calculate the fees.
• Calculate the number of weeks based upon the start date and the end date.
• Collect the full PFS payment upfront at the time of application: $10 to enroll (AIC 108) and $11.95 for each week of service requested (AIC 159). Be sure to place funds in the correct AIC!
• Ship PFS mail once a week on Wednesdays via Priority Mail service, and reroute PFS customers’ Express Mail^® pieces, outside pieces, and accountable mailpieces immediately upon receipt.
• Do not send PFS mail to the centralized forwarding unit (CFS).
• Do not file a formal temporary or permanent Change of Address (PS Form 3275) for the customer’s per­manent address simultaneously with PFS.
• Special Note: Do not send a copy of PS Form 8176 to Postal Service Headquarters — that requirement was discontinued on December 7, 2006, as noted in the article “Premium Forwarding Service: Get Up to Date — Be Prepared!” in Postal Bulletin 22195 (12–7–06, pages 16–23).

We will publish another article on PFS, including detailed FAQs, in a future issue of the Postal Bulletin.

Ordering Information

You can order Publication 615, Sign 615, and PS Form 8176 from the Material Distribution Center (MDC) by using touch tone order entry (TTOE): Call 800-273-1509.

Note: You must be registered to use TTOE. To register, call 800-332-0317, option 1, extension 2925, and follow the prompts to leave a message. (Wait 48 hours after register­ing before placing your first order.) For complete TTOE ordering instructions, you can visit the Materials Customer Service Web site at http://blue.usps.gov/purchase/_doc/ops_ttoeins.doc or call National Materials Customer Service at 800-332-0317, option 2.

Use the following information to place your orders:

 

 

PSIN:	PUB615	SGN615	PS8176
Description:	PFS brochure	PFS countercard	PFS application
PSN:	7610-08-000-1458	7690-08-000-1500	7530-07-000-6197
Unit of Measure:	Each	Each	Each
Issue Increment:	100	1	1
Quick Pick Number:	642	NA	640
Price:	$0.0163	$0.7438	$0.0640

Each Post Office should order only one copy of Sign 615 (the PFS countercard), which has a pocket to hold copies of Publication 615 (the PFS brochures).

Reminders

Remember that PFS has replaced all informal “snow­bird” arrangements that may have been set up in the past.

PFS is a great service. Make sure your office promotes PFS to potential residential customers so they can stay connected when they are away from home.

— Product Management,
Product Development, 5-24-07