On May 9, 2012, the Postal Service™ revised the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) 707.6 to recognize electronic fulfillment as a legitimate means of distribution of copies of Periodicals publications to subscribers and requesters. Electronic copies meeting of all the conditions for eligibility may be reported as legitimate circulation for the 2012 reporting period ending September 30, 2012.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
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700 Special Standards
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707 Periodicals
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6.0 Qualification Categories
6.1 General Publications
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6.1.2 Circulation Standards
General publications must meet these circulation standards:
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[Add a new second sentence in f as follows:]
f. ***(For explanation of how electronic copies may be included, see 6.5.)***
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6.4 Requester Publications
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6.4.2 Circulation Standards
Requester publications must meet these circulation standards:
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[Revise item b as follows:]
b. Subscription copies of the publications that are paid for or promised to be paid for, including those at or below a nominal price, may be included in the determination of whether the 50% request requirement is met. (For explanation of how electronic copies may be included, see 6.5.)
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[Renumber current 6.5 through 6.6 as new 6.6 through 6.7 and add new 6.5 as follows:]
6.5 Electronic Copies
Copies of Periodicals publications distributed through email or by accessing a password-protected website may be counted toward an approved or pending general or requester publication’s eligibility for Periodicals prices. The following conditions additionally apply:
a. Electronic copies that may be counted toward a publication’s eligibility for Periodicals prices:
1. Must be paid at a price above nominal rate for publications approved in the General category; or
2. Must be requested in writing or by electronic correspondence for publications approved in the Requester category.
b. Electronic copies of a Periodicals publication for which access is offered free in conjunction with printed copies of the same issues may not be counted when determining total circulation for the publication.
c. At least 40% of the total circulation of each issue must consist of printed copies distributed to paying subscribers or requesters, as applicable. Up to 10% of the distributed copies used to qualify or remain eligible for Periodicals prices may be copies that are paid or requested to be sent electronically.
d. If less than 60% of a Periodicals publication’s total circulation consists of printed copies distributed to paying subscribers or requesters, as applicable, annual postal eligibility audits must be conducted by a certified audit bureau.
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We will incorporate these revisions into the next monthly update of the online DMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at http://pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification,
Pricing, 9-20-12
