On September 7, 2010, the Postal Service™ published a final rule Federal Register notice (75 FR 54287–54290) to require mailers preparing comailed or copalletized or mailings — or mail owners who contribute mailpieces to a consolidated comailed or copalletized mailing — to submit electronic documentation to USPS® by an approved method.
Effective January 2, 2011, the Postal Service will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) 705.8.7, 705.8.8, 705.8.16, and 707.27, and provides this advance notification to permit mailers ample time to review the new requirements.
The support of electronic documentation for a comailed and copalletized mailing enhances the electronic visibility of the mailpiece, allows for a reduction in postal handling, and improves efficiency of USPS processing.
This revision will require comailed and copalletized mailings to include Intelligent Mail® tray labels on trays or sacks. Intelligent Mail container placards must also be used on pallets or similar containers when making comailed or copalletized mailings.
The Postal Service will accept piece-level electronic documentation through either of two methods — Mail.dat or Mail.XML. The original container data, included in the Mail.dat or Mail.XML file, permit the tracking of containers from their origin, through the consolidation site, and ultimately into USPS processing. These original container data are essential for the generation of standardized documentation (i.e., qualification reports) and postage statements for comailed or copalletized mailings. Therefore, the Postal Service will require mail owners and mailers associated with the preparation and presentation of comailed and copalletized mailings to transmit electronic documentation to USPS using properly formatted Mail.dat or Mail.XML files. Electronic postage statements prepared through Postal Wizard will not fulfill this documentation requirement.
This revision will also require mailers preparing mailings of letter-size pieces in trays, which include mailpieces to be incorporated in a copalletized mailing, to prepare separate postage statements for the portion of the mailing being accepted at the origin site, and separate electronic postage statements for the portion being directed to a consolidator. Consolidators preparing copalletized mailings of trays must prepare electronic documentation showing the assignment of the trays with Intelligent Mail tray labels to pallets bearing Intelligent Mail container placards. Consolidators of letter-size pieces in trays will also be required to dropship copalletized mailpieces at the appropriate postal facility in accordance with the entry discount claimed at the origin acceptance location.
Origin mailers preparing mailings of bundles of flats must prepare separate postage statements for the portion of the mailing being accepted at the origin site, and electronic documentation for that portion being directed to a consolidator. For mailings of bundles of flats, the electronic data will be used to generate electronic postage statements and payment at the consolidator site.
DMM 705.22.0 currently requires electronic documentation with mailings (including comailed or copalletized mailings) that include full-service Intelligent Mail letters or flats. These standards have not changed. Mailers who prepare full-service Intelligent Mail pieces that will later be included in a copalletized mailing must prepare these pieces to meet the requirements for full-service Intelligent Mail, including the use of an approved electronic method to transmit postage statements and mailing documentation to USPS. Consolidators must then ensure that mailings including any full-service mailpieces meet all of the requirements for the full-service automation option specified in DMM 705.22.0.
This revision will require Periodicals mailers to submit electronic documentation for each comailed and/or copalletized mailing, identifying each title and version (or edition) in the mailing. For mailings that are entered at origin, and later copalletized at a consolidation site, the mail owner or preparer must submit electronic documentation (Mail.dat or Mail.XML) for the copalletized portion of the mailing. For copalletized Periodicals mail, electronic postage statements and payment must be entered at the consolidator’s site.
Electronic documentation submitted at the origin site must indicate which bundles, trays, or sacks will be sent to a consolidator for copalletization. The standardized documentation and postage statements must then be available in PostalOne!® for review by USPS acceptance personnel when the electronic documentation for the copalletized portion of the mailing job is updated by the consolidator. The origin site is required to transmit electronic documentation to the PostalOne! system before the consolidator’s electronic documentation and electronic postage statements are transmitted to USPS. When copalletizing letters in trays, postage statements at the origin site must be finalized before the consolidator’s electronic documentation is transmitted to USPS.
With this revision, the consolidator will be responsible for updating the electronic documentation from the mail owner or preparer for that portion of the mailing going to the consolidation site. Mailers consolidating multiple mailings on pallets must use the electronic data received from the originator of the mailing to create new electronic data. These electronic data will then be used to generate the original container data, indicating the origin of the bundles, trays, or sacks comprising the copalletized mailing.
The Postal Service will also revise portions of DMM 705.8.0 to refer to the copalletization of letter-size pieces within those sections.
Interested mailers may obtain additional information by reviewing the complete Federal Register notice available on the Postal Explorer® website at http://pe.usps.com; then click Federal Register Notices in the left frame.
— Mailing Standards,
Pricing, 9-23-10
