Effective April 16, 2015, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) part 243 to reaffirm basic eligibility standards for Standard Mail® Marketing Parcels.
Specifically, Standard Mail Marketing Parcels were designed for mailers to send non-requested items or samples to potential customers. Our intent was to build a low-cost prospecting vehicle; therefore, the Postal Service built in factors to minimize handling costs. One factor, the alternative addressing format, was required so that the current resident became the recipient of the mailpiece if the named addressee moved from that address. This avoided extra delivery and forwarding costs. Another factor was the specification of size restrictions, including the requirement that pieces needed to be similar in shape and weight if sent in a single mailing.
Building upon the original intent, and to keep this product a viable and cost-effective promotional vehicle, we are adding stronger language to the DMM on content eligibility and address format for Standard Mail Marketing Parcels. This includes clarification that all Standard Mail Marketing Parcels (regular and nonprofit) must bear an alternate addressing format and cannot be used for “fulfillment purposes” (i.e. the sending of items specifically purchased or requested by the customer of a mailer). The one exception to this rule is if the customer of a mailer elects to receive certain samples in connection with the purchase of an item; then, those samples may be sent separately from the purchased item as a Standard Mail Marketing Parcel. Moreover, the alternate address format must be on the same line as the addressee's name, or on the address line directly above or below the addressee's name as identified in DMM 602.3.4.
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Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
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200 Commercial Mail
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240 Standard Mail
243 Prices and Eligibility
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3.0 Basic Eligibility Standards for Standard Mail
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3.2 Defining Characteristics
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3.2.2 Standard Mail Marketing Parcels
[Revise 3.2.2 to read as follows:]
All Standard Mail Marketing Parcels (regular and nonprofit) must bear an alternate addressing format and cannot be used for “fulfillment purposes” (i.e. the sending of items specifically purchased or requested by the customer of a mailer). The alternate address format must be on the same line as the addressee's name or on the address line directly above or below the addressee's name.
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We will incorporate these revisions into the April 26, 2015, update of the online DMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at http://pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification,
Pricing, 4-2-15
