DMM Revision: General Delivery Service Restrictions

Effective March 14, 2010, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Ser­vice, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) 508.6 to permit the postmaster of a Post Office™ with multiple facilities to des­ignate more than one facility as an office that can provide general delivery service in accordance with customer and operational needs.

Currently, general delivery service is available at only one facility when under the administration of a multifacility Post Office. Prior to initiating service, customers should contact the destination Post Office to determine the autho­rized facility or facilities and applicable ZIP™ Code(s).

This revision also clarifies the 30-day time limit for how long an individual general delivery mailpiece is held.

Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)

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500 Additional Mailing Services

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508 Recipient Services

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6.0 General Delivery

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6.2 Service Restrictions

[Revise the text of 6.2 as follows:]

General delivery is normally available at only one facility under the administration of a Post Office with multiple facili­ties. A postmaster may authorize more than one facility to offer general delivery service in accordance with customer and operational needs. A customer may use only one such location. A postmaster may refuse or restrict general delivery:

a. To a customer who is unable to present suitable iden­tification.

b. To a customer whose mail volume or service level (e.g., mail accumulation) cannot reasonably be ac­commodated.

6.3 Delivery to Addressee

[Add a new last sentence to 6.3 to read as follows:]

*** Prior to mailing, customers should contact the destina­tion Post Office to determine the authorized facility or facil­ities and their applicable ZIP Code(s).

6.4 Holding Mail

[Revise text of 6.4 to read as follows:]

Each general delivery mailpiece is held for no more than 30 days, although a shorter time period may be requested by the sender.

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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, which is available via Postal Explorer® at http://pe.usps.com.