DMM Revision: Pallet Placards and Intelligent Mail Tray Labels

Effective June 6, 2011, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM\u201A) 705.8.6.6 and 708.6.0 to provide an additional option for mailers who need to print destination entry office information on pallet placards.

As stated in Postal Bulletin 22158 (7-7-05), the Postal Service needs the office of origin or mailer location on line 3 of pallet placards to facilitate effective communication with the office of origin and the mailer when mail prepara­tion problems occur. Some mailers find it useful to include destination entry office mailing for their drop shipments and have been using line 3 on pallet placards to print this information.

This revision provides options for mailers to print origin office/mailer location information in alternate locations on placards. Mailers who currently print origin office/mailer location information on line 3 of placards may continue to do so with no need to change. We also revise DMM 708.6.0 to accommodate both destination entry office and origin office information on the 24-digit Intelligent Mail® tray labels.

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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8.6 Pallet Placards

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[Revise the title and text of 8.6.6 as follows:]

8.6.6 Line 3

The office of mailing or mailer information line must be the third and bottom line of required information, except as allowed in 8.6.6a or 8.6.6b. Line 3 must show (left-justified) either the city and state of the origin entry Post Office or the mailer’s name and the city and state of the mailer’s location, except under 8.6.6a or 8.6.6b. Placards on containers of parcels prepared using eVS under 2.9 must show “eVS” either to the left of required line 3 information or directly below line 3 using the same size and lettering used for line 3. At the mailer’s option, pallet placards prepared for desti­nation entry may have the correct destination entry office information printed left-justified on line 3 only under these conditions:

a. The origin entry office or mailer location information is placed right-justified on line 3, preceded by “ORI­GIN:” or “ORGN:”; or

b. The origin entry office or mailer location information is printed right-justified directly below line 3 or in either the top right corner or the bottom right corner of the extraneous information section, preceded by “ORI­GIN:” or “ORGN:”. Under this option, the origin entry or mailer location information is required even though placed in the “extraneous” information section.

c. For all options (8.6.6a and 8.6.6b), the origin entry of­fice or mailer location information must be printed in a minimum 12 point font and may be abbreviated to show the mailer’s name and ZIP Code of location.

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708 Technical Standards

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6.0 Standards for Barcoded Tray Labels, Sack Labels, and Container Placards

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6.2 Specifications for Barcoded Tray and Sack Labels

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6.2.5 Line 3 (Origin Line)

[Revise the text of 6.2.5 as follows:]

The origin line must appear below the content line in a loca­tion appropriate for a tray or sack as shown in Exhibit 6.2.2a or Exhibit 6.2.2b, except as allowed on 24-digit Intelligent Mail tray labels under 6.5.4 and 6.2.5a and b. The origin line must show the city and state of the entry Post Office or the mailer’s name and the city and state of the mailer’s location (city and state information may be abbreviated if such abbre­viations are in the USPS City State Product). A mailer code assigned by the USPS or such words as “Mailer” or “From” may appear before the required information on this line. Mailers who choose to print destination entry office informa­tion on line 3 instead of the origin information must print the origin information as follows:

a. When the origin information is not printed on line 3, it must be printed right-justified in the “MAILER AREA” shown in exhibit 6.5.3.

b. When the origin information is printed in the “MAILER AREA” instead of line 3, it must be directly preceded by “ORIGIN:” or “ORGN:” and it may contain, at a min­imum, the mailer’s name and ZIP Code of origin entry.

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6.5 Intelligent Mail Tray Labels

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6.5.4 Intelligent Mail Tray Label Format

The core data elements for the Intelligent Mail tray label are as follows:

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[Revise item 6.5.4i as follows:]

i. Mailer area (set aside for mailer-generated human-readable information or for origin information on 24-digit Intelligent Mail tray labels when the mailer chooses to print destination entry office information on line 3 of the tray label).

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6.6 Intelligent Mail Container Placards (Labels)

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6.6.3 Intelligent Mail Container Placard Format

[Revise the first sentence of 6.6.3 as follows:]

In addition to the requirements for pallet placards in 705.8.6, Intelligent Mail container placards (see Exhibit 6.6.3) must retain the top one-half of the placard for USPS-required elements, except as allowed under 705.8.6.6.***

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6.6.6 Optional Smaller Placard Format

Mailers may prepare placards bearing Intelligent Mail con­tainer barcodes (see Exhibit 6.6.6) in a smaller alternate for­mat as follows:

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[Revise item 6.6.6e as follows:]

e. All text placed in the mailer/acceptance unit area must be approved by the business mail entry unit (BMEU) servicing the mailer for acceptance and verification, except as allowed under 705.8.6.6a or b for optional placement of required origin office/mailer location in­formation. Mailers wishing to include information other than that approved or allowed for use in this area must use the larger size placard specified in 6.6.3.

[Delete current item 6.6.6f in its entirety and redesignate current items g and h as new items f and g.]

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