Effective January 27, 2013, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) 708.6.6.5 to provide another new option to Periodicals mailers preparing pallets or other approved containers bearing Intelligent Mail® container placards.
Currently for pallets of Periodicals, mailing standards require that pink designator labels, used in conjunction with white Intelligent Mail container placards, be printed in landscape orientation and not include any print or graphics other than the USPS®-required markings. With this change, when designator labels are used in conjunction with Intelligent Mail container placards, the Postal Service will define the mailer-use area as the bottom 3 inches of designator labels measuring at least 8 inches by 11 inches, and as the bottom 1 inch of designator labels measuring less than 8 inches by 11 inches. For mailers using this option, the Postal Service will allow the placement of extraneous information, meeting the criteria provided in DMM 705.8.6.8, in the mailer-use area of pink designator labels.
This mailer-use area on designator labels is an option being provided in response to requests from mailers. However, the Postal Service recommends that mailers instead make use of the available mailer/acceptance unit area provided on Intelligent Mail container placards, if possible, when adding mailer-use information on pallets of Periodicals.
The use of pink designator labels is permitted only with pallets bearing Intelligent Mail container placards.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
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700 Special Services
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708 Technical Specifications
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6.0 Standards for Barcoded Tray Labels, Sack Labels, and Container Placards
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6.6 Intelligent Mail Container Placards (Labels)
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6.6.5 Placard Requirements
Mailers may use placards bearing Intelligent Mail container barcodes only under the following conditions:
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e. Placards containing Periodicals may be all white when used in conjunction with a pink designator label meeting the following criteria:
[Revise 6.6.5e1as follows:]
1. Designator labels must be printed in landscape orientation and, except for the defined mailer-use area, must not include any print or graphics, other than the required markings in 6.6.5e2 and 5e3. Mailers may place extraneous information, meeting the criteria in 705.8.6.8, only in the mailer-use area of the label.
[Renumber the current 5e2 through 5e4 as the new 5e3 through 5e5 and add a new 5e2 as follows:]
2. The mailer-use area consists of the bottom 3 inches of designator labels measuring at least 8 inches by 11 inches, and the bottom 1 inch of designator labels measuring less than 8 inches by 11 inches. Mailers must define the mailer-use area by placing a horizontal black line of at least 0.10 inch in thickness, extending the width of the label, and must include “MAILER-USE ONLY” text printed in all uppercase letters centered and embedded within the horizontal black line. This text must be printed using boldface sans-serif font and must be in at least 14-point type.
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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, 11-1-12
