Effective March 3, 2014, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) sections 507.3, 507.7, and 507.9 to implement new standards for Premium Forwarding Service Commercial (PFS Commercial™) service.
The Postal Service provided advance notice of changes to introduce Premium Forwarding Service in the Federal Register Docket No. 2013-27728, Volume 78, Number 224 (Wednesday, November 20, 2013). The Postal Service anticipated a systems implementation date of July 2014; however, many of the new features of PFS Commercial can be made available sooner than July 2014. Consequently, the Postal Service will revise DMM standards using a phased-in approach.
Currently, the Postal Service offers residential and commercial customers options for shipping mail from one delivery location or Post Office Box™ to another. For retail customers, Premium Forwarding Service® (PFS®) is available for up to one year and shipments are sent weekly. For commercial customers, Priority Mail Express™ (PME) Reshipment service [established with a USPS® Corporate Account (USPSCA™)] and Priority Mail® (PM) Reshipment service, established with a Merchandise Return Service (MRS) permit account, are available for a specific period of time and frequency. PFS Commercial will effectively replace both of these services.
Although the online enrollment and payment of postage and fees for PFS Commercial service will be launched in the Business Customer Gateway (https://gateway.usps.com/bcg/login.htm) in the future, the service is available immediately. New PFS-Commercial customers may enroll by making their requests in writing to the Postmaster of the origin Post Office™. Customers will determine the shipment frequency and will choose if the shipments will be sent by either Priority Mail Express or Priority Mail. Business customers may pay the annual enrollment fee at a retail Post Office location, station, or branch, and the applicable postage for the shipments through their PostalOne!® permit account or USPSCA. Shipping containers used for PFS Commercial will be restricted to sacks, tray boxes, and for minimal amounts of mail, Flat Rate envelopes.
Additionally, as a result of this new commercial offering, the Postal Service renames Premium Forwarding Service as Premium Forwarding Service Residential. However, no other changes to the standards for this service are being made. Although these revisions will not be published in the DMM until March, 3, 2014, these standards are effective immediately.
* * * * *
500 Additional Mailing Services
* * * * *
507 Mailer Services
* * * * *
[Revise the heading and entire text of 3.0 to read as follows:]
3.0 Premium Forwarding Services
3.1 Premium Forwarding Service Residential
3.1.1 Description
Premium Forwarding Service Residential (PFS Residential) provides certain residential customers (see 3.1.4) an option to have all mail addressed to their primary address shipped to a temporary address by a weekly Priority Mail shipment. Service is available for a period of not less than 2 weeks and not more than 1 year. This optional service is separate from the forwarding service offered in 2.0. Customers must pay a nonrefundable enrollment fee and a weekly charge for each Priority Mail shipment for each week of service requested. Except under 3.1.4b, the amount due for the total weeks requested must be paid in full. See Notice 123, Price List.
3.1.2 Extension of Service
Customers may extend PFS Residential for up to 1 year maximum service from the initial start date by contacting the Post Office of the primary address, or, for customers enrolled online, at www.usps.com/premiumforwarding. Except under 3.1.4b, an extension is processed only after the Post Office receives payment of the shipment charges due for the total weeks of extension requested.
3.1.3 Early Termination of Service
Except under 3.1.4b, a customer who terminates service early may request a refund for any unused pre-paid weekly shipment charges from the Post Office serving the primary address.
3.1.4 Use
Participation in PFS Residential is subject to the following additional standards:
a. Service is available to residential street delivery customers or residential/personal PO Box customers with a size-one or size-two PO Box who submit a completed PS Form 8176, Premium Forwarding Service® (PFS®) Application, at the Post Office serving the primary delivery address.
b. Service is available to residential street delivery (not PO Box delivery) customers who submit an application online at www.usps.com/premiumforwarding. The enrollment fee and weekly shipment charges are processed as services are rendered and must be paid by credit card. Modification or cancellation of the service can only be made online when the initial request was completed online.
c. Customers must designate whether the order is for an “Individual” or an “Entire Household.”
d. For customers whose primary address is a PO Box, only the box customer is authorized to initiate the application, and “Entire Household” must be designated on the application.
3.1.5 Prohibited Use
PFS Residential is available only from and to domestic addresses, cannot be combined with any ancillary or extra services, and is not available for:
a. Customers who have an active change-of-address (COA).
b. Customers who have an active Hold Mail Authorization (PS Form 8076). Mail that has previously been held at the primary address Post Office cannot be included in the shipments.
c. Customers whose residential use PO Box is larger than a size-two box, unless their larger size PO Box is being used due to the unavailability of smaller boxes.
d. Customers whose primary delivery address is that of a business or organization.
e. Customers whose primary address is a central point to which the USPS provides delivery in bulk to a third party, such as a commercial mail receiving agency (CMRA), RV park, trailer park, hospitals, hotels, and U.S. Department of State (see 703.3.0) addresses.
f. Customers whose primary address or temporary address is an APO/FPO or DPO.
g. Customers whose temporary address is within the 969 3-digit ZIP Code area or is otherwise in a U.S. territory or possession that requires a customs declaration.
3.2 Preparation
3.2.1 Weekly Priority Mail Shipments
Premium Forwarding Service Residential shipments are dispatched weekly (on Wednesday) as Priority Mail with USPS Tracking service. Regardless of any mailer’s ancillary service endorsement on a mailpiece and provided it fits within the shipment container, all mail is included in the weekly Priority Mail shipment, except as follows:
a. Any mailpiece arriving at the primary address that indicates surface only transportation such as Label 127, Surface Mail Only or bears other hazardous materials markings such as “Consumer Commodity ORM-D”, is not included in the weekly Priority Mail shipment and must be rerouted separately via surface transportation.
b. Mailpieces that do not fit in the shipment container, or that require a scan or signature at delivery, are scanned (when applicable) and then rerouted separately to the temporary address, subject to the following:
1. Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail®, First-Class Mail® parcels, First-Class Package Service pieces and Periodicals parcels are rerouted separately at no additional charge.
2. Standard Mail parcels and Parcel Select® Lightweight pieces are rerouted separately and charged postage due at the appropriate 1-pound Standard Post™ price.
3. Standard Post, Bound Printed Matter, Media Mail, Library Mail, and Parcel Select pieces are rerouted separately and charged postage due at the appropriate single-piece price for the class or subclass of mail in which the piece was originally shipped.
c. Priority Mail is not included in the shipment if such inclusion may delay its delivery to the temporary address.
d. Any mailpiece arriving postage due at the Post Office serving a customer’s primary address is not included in the weekly Priority Mail shipment and will be rerouted separately as follows:
1. First-Class Mail, First-Class Package Service, and Priority Mail pieces are charged only for the original postage due amount.
2. Standard Post, Bound Printed Matter, Media Mail, Library Mail, and Parcel Select pieces are rerouted postage due at the appropriate single-piece price for the class, or subclass, of mail the mailpiece was originally shipped plus the postage due amount already indicated on the mailpiece.
3.3 Premium Forwarding Service Commercial
3.3.1 Description
Premium Forwarding Service Commercial (PFS Commercial) provides business commercial customers, who establish a service agreement with the USPS, the option to have USPS gather their mail addressed to PO Boxes or business street addresses within the same servicing postal facility, then consolidate and dispatch the mail as Priority Mail Express or Priority Mail shipments to a new address. Customers must pay an annual enrollment fee and the applicable postage for the class of mail desired for the shipments. See Notice 123, Price List.
Depending upon the volume of mail collected, shipment containers may be sacks (not to exceed 70 pounds each), full (2-foot) or half (1-foot) tray boxes, or Flat Rate envelopes.
3.3.2 Authorization
Commercial customers may establish PFS Commercial service by making a request in writing to the origin Post Office for approval by the Postmaster. Requests must specify the business street delivery or PO Boxes addresses, destination address, shipment frequency (Monday through Saturday) and the postage payment method (see 3.3.3b). Service is activated by Postmaster approval.
3.3.3 Additional Conditions
Only the authorized recipient (or legal agent) of the business (or organization) mail may activate the request for PFS Commercial service. PFS Commercial service agreements are subject to these additional standards:
a. Customers must pay an annual enrollment fee to establish service, regardless of the number of individual PO Boxes or street delivery addresses included for each servicing Post Office. The enrollment fee is refundable only if the request is denied.
b. The annual enrollment fee may be paid at a retail Post Office location, station, or branch; the applicable postage for each shipment container is paid using the customer’s PostalOne! permit account for customers choosing Priority Mail service, or with a USPS Corporate Account for customers choosing Priority Mail Express service.
c. The postage is charged per shipment container as follows:
1. A sack or tray box and its contents are considered one piece for calculation of the price of postage and must not exceed 70 pounds. Postage is calculated by the weight of the container and the Zone, based on the ZIP Code of the servicing Post Office and the delivery address for the shipment.
2. A Flat Rate envelope and its contents are considered one piece for the applicable Flat Rate price.
d. If no mail is collected for a shipment on a designated frequency day, no postage is charged.
e. Except under 3.3.3g, the following classes of mail may be included in a PFS Commercial service container: Priority Mail, First-Class Mail, and First-Class Package Services pieces.
f. The mailer must keep a postage-due merchandise return service (MRS) account, or Business Reply Mail (BRM) account at the originating postal facility where the PO Box or business street address is located. Any short paid, MRS, or BRM pieces will be charged to the mailer’s account prior to shipment. The customer’s application must include confirmation that such an account exists.
g. Priority Mail Express, USPS Tracking, Certified Mail, COD, Insured Mail, Signature Confirmation, or Adult Signature mailpieces are shipped and charged separately from non-accountable mailpieces. These accountable mailpieces are shipped to the destination delivery office and addressed to the Postmaster for proper handling.
h. Registered Mail is not eligible for PFS Commercial service.
i. Business customers may terminate their PFS Commercial service agreement, effective 24 hours after the USPS receives the customer’s written notice of termination at the serving Post Office. The customer must pay all postage and fees as applicable for any shipments already scheduled before termination of service is made effective.
j. The USPS may terminate a customer’s PFS Commercial service agreement, effective 24 hours after the customer receives written notice of termination from the serving Post Office. Termination is based upon the customer’s failure to pay postage and fees, failure to meet the standards for PFS Commercial service, or there is substantial reason to believe that the service is being or will be used for unlawful activities (in these cases, the 24-hour effective period may not be granted by USPS). The customer may appeal this termination of services to the manager, Post Office Operations, but must pay for all postage and fees as applicable for any service provided during the appeal period.
* * * * *
7.0 Pickup on Demand Service
* * * * *
[Delete 507.7.6, Express Mail Reshipment Service, in its entirety.]
* * * * *
We will incorporate these revisions into the March 3, 2014, update of the online DMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at http://pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification,
Pricing, 1-23-14
