Effective February 7, 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 to require mailers preparing comailed or copalletized mailings, or mail owners who contribute mailpieces to a consolidated comailed or copalletized mailing, to submit electronic documentation to USPS® by an approved method.
The Postal Service first announced the implementation of these new requirements as a proposed rule Federal Register notice published on June 7, 2010 (75 FR 32143–32145), and, based on input from the mailing community, portions of the original proposal were revised. We published notice of the revised standards as a final rule Federal Register notice on September 7, 2010 (75 FR 54287–54290), and also as a DMM advanced notice in Postal Bulletin 22294 (9-23-10, pages 4–5).
In the September Federal Register notice and Postal Bulletin article, the Postal Service provided a January 2, 2011, effective date for the new standards. To provide more transitional time for mailers, the Postal Service has elected to revise the effective date to February 7, 2011. Mailers who have been planning to prepare their mailings in accordance with the new standards on January 2, 2011, may optionally do so on January 2, but will not be required to do until February 7, 2011.
These new standards 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.
Under these standards, 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. 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. Electronic postage statements prepared through Postal Wizard will not fulfill this documentation requirement.
This revision will 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.
In accordance with DMM 705.22.0, 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.
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 must 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 also revises portions of DMM 705.8.0 to refer to the copalletization of letter-size pieces within those sections.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
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700 Special Standards
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705 Advanced Preparation and Special Postage Payment Systems
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8.0 Preparing Pallets
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[Revise title of 8.7 as follows:]
8.7 Copalletized, Combined, or Mixed-Price Level Palletized Mailings
8.7.1 General
[Revise 8.7.1 as follows:]
Copalletized, combined, or mixed-price level palletized mailings of letter-size or flat-size pieces must be prepared under the standards for the class of mail, subject to specific authorization by Business Mailer Support when required. The following conditions apply when making copalletized mailings:
a. Postage statements and mailing documentation must be transmitted to the USPS using an approved electronic method.
b. In accordance with 708.6.5 and 708.6.6, Intelligent Mail tray labels must be used on trays and sacks and Intelligent Mail container placards must be used on pallets or similar containers.
c. If consolidating multiple mailings on pallets, update the electronic data for each of the original mailings. This updated data must be reflected in the electronic data transmitted to the USPS.
d. Meet postage payment requirements as specified by Business Mailer Support.
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8.7.3 Periodicals Publications
[Revise 8.7.3 by adding a new third sentence as follows:]
***Postage for copalletized mailings of flat-size Periodicals must be paid at the consolidator’s site.***
8.7.4 Standard Mail
[Revise the first sentence of 8.7.4 and add a new last sentence as follows:]
To copalletize different Standard Mail letter- or flat-size mailings, the mailer must consolidate on pallets all independently sorted trays or bundles from each mailing to achieve the finest presort level for the mailing, except that a flat-size copalletized mailing prepared under 8.11 or 8.14 using the bundle reallocation option may not always result in all bundles being placed on the finest pallet level possible. ***Origin mailers participating in a copalletized mailing of Standard Mail letters in trays must prepare a separate postage statement for the portion entered at the origin site and another postage statement for the portion directed to the consolidator.
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8.8 Basic Uses
These types of mail may be palletized:
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[Reletter items 8.8e through i as new f through j and add new item e as follows:]
e. Copalletized multiple letter-size mailings, prepared in trays, subject to 8.0.
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[Revise title of 8.16 as follows:]
8.16 Copalletized Letter-size and Flat-size Pieces—Periodicals or Standard Mail
8.16.1 Basic Standards
[Revise 8.16.1 as follows:]
Copalletized letter- and flat-size mailings must meet the applicable standards in 8.0. In addition, if copalletized under 10.0, 12.0, or 13.0, the applicable provisions of that preparation option must also be met. Any combination of automation mailings and nonautomation mailings is subject to the restrictions in 8.14. Trays and bundles in a copalletized mailing qualify for the appropriate presort level price, regardless of the pallet level on which they are placed. Mailers participating in copalletized mailings must:
a. Transmit postage statements and mailing documentation to the USPS using an approved electronic method.
b. In accordance with 708.6.5 and 708.6.6, use Intelligent Mail tray labels on trays and sacks and Intelligent Mail container placards on pallets or similar containers.
c. If consolidating multiple mailings on pallets, update the electronic data for each of the original mailings. This updated data must be reflected in the electronic data transmitted to the USPS by the consolidator.
d. Meet postage payment requirements as specified by Business Mailer Support.
8.16.2 Periodicals
Additional standards are as follows:
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[Revise 8.16.2 by adding new item d as follows:]
d. Postage for copalletized mailings of flat-size Periodicals must be paid at the consolidator’s site.
8.16.3 Standard Mail
Additional standards are as follows:
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[Revise 8.16.3 by adding new item f as follows:]
f. Origin mailers participating in a copalletized mailing of Standard Mail letters in trays must prepare a separate postage statement for the portion entered at the origin site and another postage statement for the portion directed to the consolidator.
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707 Periodicals
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27.0 Combining Multiple Editions or Publications
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27.5 Documentation
***The following additional standards apply:
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[Revise 27.5 by adding new items c and d as follows:]
c. Unless excepted by Business Mailer Support (BMS), mailers combining Periodicals publications under 27.1a must transmit postage statements and mailing documentation to the USPS using a BMS-approved electronic method.
d. Mailers combining Periodicals publications under 27.1c must transmit postage statements and mailing documentation to the USPS using a BMS-approved electronic method.
[Renumber current 27.6 through 27.8 as new 27.7 through 27.9 and add a new item 27.6 as follows:
27.6 Additional Standards
Mailers combining Periodicals publications under 27.1a or 27.1c must:
a. Use Intelligent Mail tray labels on trays and sacks and Intelligent Mail container placards, under 708.6.5 and 6.6, on pallets or similar containers.
b. When using a consolidator, prepare a separate postage statement for the portion of the mailing accepted at the origin site and another statement for that portion directed to a consolidator.
c. When using a consolidator under 27.1c, pay postage at the consolidator’s site.
d. If consolidating multiple mailings on pallets, update the electronic data for each of the original mailings. This updated data must be reflected in the electronic data transmitted to the USPS.
f. Meet postage payment requirements as specified by Business Mailer Support.
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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, 12-16-10
