Effective June 21, 2007, we are revising Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) to clarify the impact of address orientation on letter-size mailpieces. DMM 601.1.1 states that a processing category is dependent on the physical dimensions and characteristics of the mailpiece, without regard to placement of the address. However, once a piece has been determined to be letter-size, placement of the address then determines whether the piece is mailable and may determine whether the piece is a nonmachinable letter.
Placement of the address on a letter-size piece would not necessitate a change in the processing category from a letter to a flat. At the mailer's option, letter-size pieces at least 5 inches by 6 inches by 0.009 inch thick may qualify as automation-compatible flats, if they meet all applicable standards.
We provide examples of different address placement in our revised standards to clarify the impact of address placement on mailability and on a piece's aspect ratio, which could render a letter-size piece nonmachinable.
We will include these changes in the July revision of Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM), but the revised standards are effective immediately.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
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600 Basic Standards for All Mailing Services
601 Mailability
1.0 General Standards
1.1 Determining Mail Processing Categories
[Revise 1.1 by adding an example as follows:]
There are five mail processing categories for mailpieces: letter, flat, machinable parcel, irregular parcel, and outside parcel. USPS assigns each mailpiece to one of these categories based on the physical dimensions and characteristics of the mailpiece using the longest dimension as the length, regardless of the placement or orientation of the delivery address on the piece. For example, a mailpiece that is 5 inches by 8 inches and at least 0.007 inch thick is within the range of letter-size dimensional standards in 101 and 201. See the physical standards for processing categories in 101 for retail (single-piece rate) mail, 201 for discount letters, 301 for discount flats, and 401 for discount parcels.
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1.4 Length and Height
[Revise the introductory text and item a to clarify that the length and height of a letter is within the context of determining mailability or machinability as follows:]
Determine the processing category (see 1.1) based on the physical dimensions and characteristics of the mailpiece, without regard to address placement. Then, determine length and height as follows:
a. Letter-size pieces. For the purpose of determining mailability or machinability (see 1.5), the length is the dimension parallel to the delivery address as read; the height is the dimension perpendicular to the length.
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[Revise the title of 1.5 as follows:]
1.5 Nonmailable and Nonmachinable Placement of Address
[Revise the introductory text and add new items a through c to provide examples as follows:]
The placement of the address on a letter-size mailpiece may render a piece nonmailable or nonmachinable. If the length (the dimension parallel to the address) of a letter-size mailpiece is not at least 5 inches, it is nonmailable. If the height (the dimension perpendicular to the length) of a letter-size mailpiece is not at least 3-1/2 inches, it is nonmailable. If the aspect ratio (length divided by height) is not within 1.3 to 2.5 (inclusive), the piece is a nonmachinable letter. For example:
a. For a letter-size piece that is 4 inches by 6 inches, if the address is parallel to the 4-inch dimension, it is 4 inches long, which is less than the minimum length of 5 inches required in 1.2. Therefore, this piece is nonmailable.
b. Following the process in 1.1, a piece that is 5 inches by 8 inches (and at least 0.007 inch thick, but no more than 0.25 inch thick) is a letter. If the address is parallel to the 8-inch dimension, the piece is 8 inches long and 5 inches high. The aspect ratio of this piece is 1.6, so it is a mailable letter within machinable dimensions for length and height.
c. For a letter-size piece that is 5 inches by 8 inches, if the address is parallel to the 5-inch (shorter) dimension, the piece is 5 inches long and 8 inches high. The aspect ratio of this piece is 0.625, which is not within 1.3 to 2.5, so it is mailable as a nonmachinable letter.
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We will incorporate this revision into the next printed version of the DMM and into the monthly update of the online DMM available via Postal Explorer®\u201A at http://pe.usps.com.
— Mailing Standards,
Pricing and Classification, 6-21-07
