Effective August 6, 2012, the Postal Service™ will revise the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) 201.3.13.5 to provide mailers with a new option for affixing two clean release cards to the nonaddress side of letters and to expand the vertical clearance for an affixed card on the address side. Mailers may begin to implement these options immediately.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
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200 Commercial Letters and Cards
201 Physical Standards
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3.0 Physical Standards for Machinable and Automation Letters and Cards
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3.13 Labels, Stickers, Release Cards, and Perforated Pockets Affixed to the Outside of Letter-Size Mailpieces
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3.13.5 Standards for Release Cards
One or two release cards, each at least 0.007 inch thick and no more than 0.012 inch thick, attached to a letter-size mailpiece must:
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b. ***Affix two cards on the same side of the mailpiece under either of these conditions:
[Revise items 3.13.5b1 and b2 as follows:]
1. Stack cards vertically, one above the other, on the same side (address side or nonaddress side), or
2. Affix the cards side-by-side across the mailpiece length on the nonaddress side only.
[Redesignate current item 3.13.5c as new item 3.13.5d and redesignate current item 3.13.5d as new item 3.13.5c.]
[Revise the introductory text of redesignated item 3.13.5c as follows:]
c. Be affixed no closer to the bottom edge of the mailpiece than 7/8 inch and no further away from the bottom edge than 1-1/2 inches, and must not interfere with readability of the address, barcode, or postage information. When affixing two cards, these additional conditions apply:
[Revise items 3.13.5c1 and c2, and add new item c3 as follows:]
1. When affixing cards one above the other on the address side, maintain a space of at least 1/2 inch from the leading edge, the trailing edge, and the top edge.
2. When affixing cards one above the other on the nonaddress side, the right edge of the cards must be placed between 5 and 6 inches from the leading edge of the mailpiece, but no closer than 1/2 inch from the trailing edge. Maintain a space of at least 1/2 inch from the top edge.
3. When affixing cards side by side on the nonaddress side, the right edge of the leftmost card must be placed at least 5 inches from the leading edge of the mailpiece, and the rightmost card must be placed at least 1/2 inch from the trailing edge of the mailpiece. Maintain a space of at least 1/2 inch from the top edge.
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We will incorporate these revisions into the next monthly update of the online DMM available via Postal Explorer® at http://pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification,
Pricing, 6-28-12
