Effective July 28, 2014, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) 705.23.3c to clarify the permit fee waiver in participation requirements for Full-Service pieces.
One of the benefits of participating in the Full-Service Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMb) program is the waiver of the annual permit fee. Currently, the permit fee must be paid immediately if the mailer submits a single mailing with less than 90 percent Full-Service pieces. This revision changes the method for evaluating whether a mailer remains eligible for the fee waiver. The 90 percent threshold will be tracked cumulatively over the period of 12 months immediately preceding the presentation of each mailing, rather than at the postage statement level. If the permit continues to hold at least a 90 percent Full-Service ratio, the annual fee will continue to be waived. If the permit no longer holds at least a 90 percent Full-Service ratio, the annual fee will be required immediately. This cumulative annual Full-Service percent ratio is determined by dividing the total number of Full-Service pieces by the total number of pieces mailed, during the preceding 12-month period.
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Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
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700 Special Standards
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705 Advanced Preparation and Special Postage Payment Systems
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23.0 Full-Service Automation Option
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23.3 Eligibility for Waiver of Annual Fees and Waiver of Deposit of Permit Imprint Mail Restrictions
Mailers who present only full-service automation mailings (First-Class Mail cards, letters, and flats, Standard Mail letters and flats, or Bound Printed Matter flats) that contain 90 percent or more pieces eligible for full-service automation prices are eligible for the following exceptions to standards:
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[Revise the text of 23.3c to read as follows:]
c. If any mailing (of the classes and shapes of mail in 23.3) presented under a mailing permit causes the permit holder’s cumulative twelve-month Full-Service ratio (i.e. the percentage of all the permit holder’s Full-Service eligible pieces that were actually mailed as Full-Service items over the previous twelve months) to fall below a 90 percent threshold:***
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We will incorporate these revisions into the next online update of the DMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at http://pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification,
Pricing, 6-26-14
