Revision: Publication 205 — eVS Parcel Products

Effective August 16, 2007, Exhibit G-10 in Appendix G of Publication 205, Electronic Verification System Business and Technical Guide, is revised to include additional rate combinations to support the beta-testing of all rate catego­ries for Priority Mail^® service and the single-piece rate for First-Class Mail^® service. Only currently authorized eVS mailers will be permitted to participate in testing these two subclasses. Testing will require analyzing and approv­ing the mailer’s files and establishing origin sampling sites.

First-Class Mail and Priority Mail Testing

Unlike destination entry mail such as Parcel Select^® mail, First-Class Mail and Priority Mail parcels can be veri­fied and accepted only as origin entry mail. The mail is ver­ified and accepted either at the mailer’s plant (if transported by the Postal Service™ to the appropriate acceptance Postal Service facility) or at the acceptance Postal Service facility (if transported by the mailer).

Verification of eVS mail requires sampling. Destination sampling tends to provide the greatest opportunity to pro­mote operational flexibility for mailers and to optimize Postal Service resources by concentrating sampling activ­ities at key entry points or exit points within the Postal Service network. Origin sampling, on the other hand, does not present those same opportunities.

The eVS sampling infrastructure that is already in place for destination entry at bulk mail centers and delivery units does not exist for origin entry facilities. Origin sampling will include installing mobile sampling equipment, testing net­work connectivity, and providing training to Postal Service employees who will do the sampling. Moreover, the Postal Service will need to activate origin sampling sites on a case-by-case basis. This process — from identification of sampling sites to final end-to-end testing — generally takes 6 to 8 weeks, depending on the network configuration and local telecommunications environment.

As a consequence, the Postal Service needs to assess ways to provide similar flexibility and cost-effectiveness for origin sampling. For eVS beta-testing of First-Class Mail and Priority Mail service, the Postal Service will determine how to concentrate the sampling verification of this mail at larger Postal Service facilities rather than at mailers’ plants or small associate Post Offices that frequently handle the verification of First-Class Mail or Priority Mail items.

Available eVS Parcel Products

With the implementation of new rates and classifications on May 14, 2007, eVS continued to support Parcel Post^® service, including Parcel Select service, as well as Bound Printed Matter, Media Mail^®, and Regular Stan­dard Mail^®. The following table lists all parcel products supported by PostalOne! effective August 16, 2007.

 

Available eVS Parcel Products

 

Class or Subclass	Rate Category	Processing Category
Parcel Post	Intra-BMC Inter-BMC Parcel Select: DBMC DSCF DDU	Machinable parcels Nonmachinable parcels
Bound Printed Matter	Presorted DBMC DSCF DDU	Machinable parcels Irregular parcels (DDU only)
Media Mail	Single-piece Presorted (basic and 5-digit)	Machinable parcels
Regular Standard Mail	Presorted DBMC DSCF DDU	Machinable parcels Irregular parcels (DDU only)
First-Class Mail	Single-piece	Machinable parcels Nonmachinable parcels
Priority Mail	Flat-rate envelope Flat-rate box Single-piece	All parcels

Future eVS Parcel Products

The long-term eVS vision is to include all parcel prod­ucts. The new and expanded coding for eVS reflects nearly all domestic parcel classes, subclasses, and rate catego­ries, as well as extra services, discounts, and surcharges.

Additional combinations, as shown in Table G-10 in Appendix G of Publication 205, will be tested before being included in eVS. The Postal Service will announce when these additional combinations will become available for authorized eVS mailers after field testing. Testing ensures that mailer systems properly calculate the rates and fees for these combinations and that Postal Service sampling tools accurately reflect rate elements used with these combinations.

• First-Class Mail. No tentative date has yet been established for testing this subclass with these rates:
• Presorted rates (5-digit, 3-digit, ADC, and mixed ADC) for machinable parcels and nonmachinable parcels.
• Regular Standard Mail. No tentative date has yet been established for testing this subclass with these rates:
• Nondestination entry and DBMC and DSCF irreg­ular parcels.
• Nonprofit Standard Mail. This subclass is permitted only for authorized Nonprofit Standard Mail mailers or mailings prepared by their agents, which could include eVS mailers or eVS consolidators. These mailings must meet all applicable standards for Non­profit Standard Mail in DMM 703. No tentative date has yet been established for testing this subclass with these rates:
• Nondestination entry and DBMC, DSCF, and DDU machinable and irregular parcels.
• Not Flat-Machinable (NFM) Regular and Nonprofit Standard Mail. This rate category will require autho­rized eVS mailers to meet the sortation and barcod­ing standards in DMM 445. No tentative date has yet been established for testing this rate category with these rates:
• 5-digit, 3-digit, ADC, and mixed ADC not flat-machinable pieces.
• Bound Printed Matter. This subclass is permitted only for authorized eVS mailers whose mail meets the content criteria in DMM 463 for Bound Printed Matter. No tentative date has yet been established for testing these rate categories:
• Nonpresorted (single-piece) machinable parcels and irregular parcels.
• Nondestination entry and DBMC and DSCF irreg­ular parcels.
• Media Mail. This subclass is permitted only for autho­rized eVS mailers whose mail meets the content cri­teria in DMM 473 for Media Mail. No tentative date has yet been established for testing this subclass with these rates:
• Single-piece and presorted (basic and 5-digit) irregular parcels.
• Library Mail. This subclass is permitted only for authorized eVS mailers whose mail meets the con­tent criteria and sender and/or addressee criteria in DMM 483 for Library Mail. No tentative date has yet been established for testing this subclass with these rates:
• Single-piece and presorted (basic and 5-digit) machinable parcels and irregular parcels.
• Carrier Route Mail. There are no immediate plans to include carrier route mail — such as Enhanced Car­rier Route Standard Mail — as part of eVS. Consider­ation for including carrier route mail will depend on the business needs of the eVS mailing community, as well as technical changes to software and mail prep­aration requirements for rate eligibility.

Publication 205, Electronic Verification System Business and Technical Guide

* * * * * 

Appendix G: Service Type Codes and Rate Ingredient Tables

* * * * * 

Table G-10
eVS Valid Rate Ingredient Combinations

* * * * * 

[Revise Exhibit G-10 by adding rows referring to the rate combinations available in Tables G-10a and G-10b, so that Exhibit G-10 in its entirety reads as follows:]

Exhibit G-10
Available eVS Parcel Products

 

Table	Mail Class (Record Positions 003–004)	Processing Category (Record Position 055)	Destination Rate Indicator (Record Position 056)	Rate Indicator (Record Positions 057–058)	Zone (Record Positions 059–060)	Parcel Routing Barcode (Record Position 199)
G-10a	FC	3	N	SP	00	0, 1, 2
	FC	5	N	SP	00	0, 1, 2
G-10b1	PM	9	N	FE	00	0, 1, 2
	PM	9	N	FB	00	0, 1, 2
	PM	9	N	SP	00	0, 1, 2
	PM	9	N	SP	01–08	0, 1, 2
	PM	9	N	BN	01–04	0, 1, 2
	PM	9	N	DR	05–08	0, 1, 2
	PM	9	N	DN	05–08	0, 1, 2
G-10c	SA	4	D	5D	00	0, 1, 2
G-10d	SA	3	N	5D, BM, MB	00	0, 1
	SA	3	B	5D, BM	00	0, 1
	SA	3	S	5D	00	0, 1
	SA	3	D	5D	00	0, 1
	SA	4	D	5D	00	0, 1, 2
G-10m1.	BP	All listed	All listed	All listed	All listed	All listed
G-10n1.	BP	All listed	All listed	All listed	All listed	All listed
G-10o1.	PS	All listed	All listed	All listed	All listed	All listed
G-10q	BB	3	N	PR	01–08	0, 1
	BB	3	B	PR	01–05	0, 1
	BB	3	S	PR	00	0, 1
	BB	3	D	PR	00	0, 1
	BB	4, 5	D	PR	00	0, 1
G-10r	BS	3	N	SP, BA, 5D	00	0, 1

---

 

* * * * * 

The revised Publication 205 will soon be available on the Postal Service Internet:

• Go to www.usps.com.
• Click on All Products & Services, then Publications, then Postal Periodicals and Publications, then Publi­cations, and then on the links for Publication 205.

It also will be available on the Postal Service PolicyNet Web site:

• Go to http://blue.usps.gov.
• Under “Essential Links” in the left-hand column, click on References.
• Click on PUBs, and then click on the link for Publica­tion 205.

(The direct URL for the Postal Service PolicyNet Web site is http://blue.usps.gov/cpim.)

— Business Mailer Support,
Customer Service, 8-16-07