Effective July 3, 2008, the Postal Service™ is revising the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) to clarify that flat-rate pricing is not available with Express Mail® Custom Designed agreements. The new Express Mail price structure, effective May 12, 2008, changed from three separate price lists based on the service used to a single zone-based price list regardless of the service used. Express Mail flat-rate pricing was not an available feature with Express Mail Custom Designed agreements prior to the May 12, 2008, price structuring change and will remain unavailable. The new price list did not specifically state that flat-rate prices were unavailable for Custom Designed items. This revision will provide clarity for our Express Mail Custom Designed customers.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
100 Retail Letters, Cards, Flats, and Parcels
* * * * *
110 Express Mail
113 Prices and Eligibility
1.0 Express Mail Prices and Fees
* * * * *
1.4 Flat-Rate Envelope
[Revise the text by adding a new last sentence as follows:]
***Custom Designed items are not eligible for flat-rate pricing.
* * * * *
400 Commercial Parcels
* * * * *
410 Express Mail
413 Prices and Eligibility
1.0 Express Mail Commercial Base Prices and Fees
* * * * *
1.4 Flat-Rate Envelope
[Revise the text by adding a new last sentence as follows:]
***Custom Designed items are not eligible for flat-rate pricing.
* * * * *
4.0 Service Features of Express Mail
* * * * *
4.4 Express Mail Custom Designed
4.4.1 Availability
[Revise text by adding a second sentence as follows:]
***Custom Designed items are not eligible for flat-rate pricing.
* * * * *
We will incorporate these revisions into the next update of the online DMM available via Postal Explorer® at http://pe.usps.com and into the next printed version of the DMM.
— Mailing Standards,
Pricing and Classification, 7-3-08