Effective March 3, 2008, the Postal Service™ is revising Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) 507.10.7 to remove a restriction on the mail that can be gathered by the Postal Service before delivery and reshipped via Priority Mail® reshipment service. Previous to this change, Priority Mail reshipment was available only for mail originally addressed to Post Office™ boxes. We encourage customers who are Merchandise Return Service permit holders to use our Priority Mail reshipment service, which is now available to mail addressed to Post Office boxes and to business street addresses.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
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500 Additional Mailing Services
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507 Mailer Services
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10.0 Merchandise Return Service
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10.7 Priority Mail Reshipment
10.7.1 Description
[Revise text of 10.7.1 as follows:]
An authorized permit holder may use merchandise return service to have mail (previously sent at First-Class Mail and Package Services prices) reshipped by Priority Mail to the post office where the permit is held. The permit holder must make a written request for reshipment and send the request to the postmaster where the Merchandise Return Service permit is authorized, specifying how often the reshipments are to be made from each affected postal facility. Reshipment is activated by the use of tags and address labels provided by the permit holder to those designated postal facilities that the permit holder authorizes to reship the mail by Priority Mail Merchandise Return Service.
[Revise heading and text of 10.7.2 as follows:]
10.7.2 Reshipment Service
The USPS gathers mail addressed to post office boxes or business street addresses and dispatches it as a Priority Mail Merchandise Return Service shipment based on the written request and agreement between the USPS and the mailer, subject to these standards:
a. Service frequency is scheduled.
b. Priority Mail postage and fees are paid against the Merchandise Return Service permit. The sack or container and its contents are considered a single piece for calculation of the Priority Mail rate of postage and must not exceed 70 lbs.
c. The mailer must keep a postage-due, Merchandise Return Service account, or business reply mail account at the postal facility where the post office box or business street address is located for any shortpaid, Merchandise Return Service, or business reply mail. The letter of request must state that such an account exists.
d. Priority Mail reshipment service is not available for Registered Mail, Certified Mail, COD, Insured Mail, or Express Mail items. The mailer must give instructions for redirecting such items on a PS Form 1093, Application for Post Office Box or Caller Service, for mail originally addressed to post office boxes or in the letter of request for mail originally addressed to business street addresses.
e. The written request by the customer must list the postmaster at the originating office as the “Firm Representative” and show the pickup time is when the USPS employee gathers the mail and prepares it for dispatch as Priority Mail Merchandise Return Service.
f. A written request to the postmaster by the customer to terminate the agreement must be submitted 30 days in advance.
10.7.3 Sack Tag
[Revise text of 10.7.3 as follows:]
If a sack is used as the mail container for Priority Mail reshipment, the permit holder must provide a tag and an address label containing the delivery address of the postage due unit at the post office where the permit is held, the permit holder’s address, and a space for the customer’s return address, and otherwise meet the format standards in 10.6 for each affected postal facility. The sack or container and its contents are considered a single piece for calculation of the Priority Mail rate of postage.
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We will incorporate these revisions 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, 2-28-08
