Effective September 8, 2009, the Postal Service™ revised Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) 114.3.1, 414.3.0, and 604.9.2.4. Express Mail® shipments containing live animals are now exempt from next-day or second-day delivery guarantee. The delivery refund guarantee of live animals is extended to within 3 days from the date of mailing.
Prior to this change, refunds for live Express Mail shipments were granted based on the next-day or second-day delivery date scheduled at the time of mailing. That policy did not account for airline flight changes that occurred to protect the well-being of the animals. In some instances, shipments of live animals are rerouted to alternative flights in order to protect the well-being of the animals. This is particularly necessary if other shipments on the same flight contain dry ice or solid carbon dioxide, which will evaporate en route and may displace oxygen. If live animals were shipped in the same cargo hold, the carbon dioxide could cause asphyxiation.
Under this revision, postage refunds will not be available for Express Mail shipments of live animals delivered or attempted to be delivered within 3 days of mailing.
We will incorporate this revision into the next printed version of the DMM and into the online DMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at http://pe.usps.com.
— Mailing Standards,
Pricing, 9-10-09
