Effective August 2, 2010, the Postal Service™ will revise the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) 602.4.1.3 to provide customers the option to use detached address labels (DALs) when current general distribution density standards for Standard Mail® merchandise samples cannot be met.
Promoting greater flexibility, the Postal Service encourages customers to use the mail for merchandise samples and provides more options, such as the use of DALs, when preparing small parcels or merchandise samples. Using DALs instead of on-piece addressing can increase mail preparation efficiency.
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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602 Addressing
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4.0 Detached Address Labels (DALs)
4.1 DAL Use
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4.1.3 Standard Mail Merchandise Samples
[Revise 4.1.3 by adding two new sentences at the end of the current introductory paragraph and adding new items 4.1.3a through 4.1.3d as follows:]
***Merchandise samples must be endorsed with a carrier release endorsement, as specified in 508.1.2. At the mailer’s option, merchandise samples may be mailed with DALs without meeting the general distribution conditions above when all of the following conditions are met:
a. Each mailing consists of at least 200 pieces or 50 pounds of the same sample.
b. Samples measure no larger than 5 inches high by 9 inches long by 1-1/2 inches thick.
c. There are at least 10 samples for delivery for an individual carrier route or Post Office box section.
d. Mailings are entered at a destination delivery unit (DDU) or placed on 5-digit pallets entered at a destination sectional center facility (SCF).
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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.
Mailing Standards,
Pricing, 7-15-10
