The Postal Service™ is revising the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) 604.4.3.3 to clarify the need for a mechanism to face a single-piece First-Class Mail® letter-size envelope bearing postage produced by a postage evidencing system.
In order to process single-piece First-Class Mail letters, the mailpiece must have certain machine-readable characteristics to identify the front of the piece. Authorized methods include: printing postage meter indicia with fluorescent ink; printing a postage meter or PC Postage® indicia directly on a label containing fluorescence; printing a facing identification mark (FIM) with the indicia; or applying the indicia to an envelope containing a preprinted FIM. When customers use fluorescent ink or labels, the ink or labels must contain fluorescence that has been approved by the Postal Service.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
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600 Basic Standards for All Mailing Services
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604 Postage Payment Methods
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4.0 Postage Meters and PC Postage Products (“Postage Evidencing Systems”)
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4.3 Postage Payment
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4.3.3 Placement of Postage
[Revise introductory text of 4.3.3 as follows:]
Mailers must print or apply indicia in the upper-right corner of the envelope or, if postage is printed on an address label, the upper-right corner of that label. Mailers must meet the following additional standards when placing indicia on mailpieces.
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[Revise item h of 4.3.3, by adding introductory text and two options to the current FIM use, to read as follows:]
h. Single-piece, First-Class Mail letters must contain a mechanism so that the Postal Service can face the mailpiece during automated processing. Acceptable methods for a mailpiece produced by a postage meter or PC Postage system include the following:
1. Printing postage meter indicia with fluorescent ink approved by the Postal Service. To determine if an ink has been approved by the Postal Service, send written requests to the Manager, Postage Technology Management (see 608.8.1 for address).
2. Printing a postage meter or PC Postage indicia directly on a label containing fluorescence that has been approved by the Postal Service. To determine if a label has been approved by the Postal Service, send written requests to the Manager, Postage Technology Management.
3. Printing a FIM D with the indicia or applying the indicia to an envelope containing a preprinted FIM. Position the FIM according to standards in 708.9.0.
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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® at http://pe.usps.com.
— Mailing Standards,
Pricing and Classification, 1-3-08
