Effective August 1, 2011, the Postal Service™ revised Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM\u201A) 243.5.5 and 245.5.4 to provide a new option for sortation of nonmachinable letters.
Currently, overflow trays are not allowed for Standard Mail® nonmachinable letters, which results in some letters not qualifying for finer sortation prices when there are too many letters for one tray, but too few letters to fill a second tray for the same destination.
This revision will allow mailers to bundle overflow letters and place them into the correct destination at the next sortation level and still retain price eligibility — somewhat similar to the overflow option allowed for automation letters.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
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200 Commercial Letters and Cards
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240 Standard Mail
243 Prices and Eligibility
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5.0 Additional Eligibility Standards for Nonautomation Standard Mail Letters
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5.5 Nonmachinable Price Application
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5.5.1 5-Digit Price
[Revise the text of 5.5.1 as follows:]
The 5-digit price applies to letter-size pieces subject to nonmachinable prices in quantities of 150 or more pieces for a 5-digit ZIP Code prepared in 5-digit trays (and overflow pieces in 3-digit or ADC trays) under 245.5.0.
5.5.2 3-Digit Price
[Revise the text of 5.5.2 as follows:]
The 3-digit price applies to letter-size pieces subject to nonmachinable prices in quantities of 150 or more pieces for a 3-digit ZIP Code prepared in 3-digit trays (and overflow pieces in ADC or MADC trays) under 245.5.0.
5.5.3 ADC Price
[Revise the text of 5.5.3 as follows:]
The ADC price applies to letter-size pieces subject to nonmachinable prices in 3-digit origin/entry trays and to pieces in quantities of 150 or more for an ADC prepared in ADC trays (and overflow pieces in MADC trays) under 245.5.0.
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245 Mail Preparation
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5.0 Preparing Nonautomation Letters
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5.4 Nonmachinable Preparation
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5.4.2 Traying and Labeling
[Revise the introductory text of 5.4.2 as follows:]
When all full trays for a destination have been prepared, mailers may include a group of 10 or more overflow pieces for that destination in a qualified tray at either of the next two tray levels. For example, overflow pieces for a 5-digit destination may be placed into an existing correct 3-digit tray; if a 3-digit tray that includes the 5-digit destination does not exist, the overflow pieces may be placed into the correct existing ADC tray. The overflow pieces must be bundled separately with the correct presort bundle label or OEL and the pieces will still qualify for the 5-digit price. Preparation sequence, tray size, and labeling:
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We will incorporate these revisions into the monthly update of the online DMM available via Postal Explorer® at http://pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification,
Pricing, 8-11-11
