Effective May 31, 2015, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) in various sections to clarify that all mailpieces that are ¼ inch thick or less must be at least 5 inches in length, 3-½ inches in height, and at least 0.007 inch in thickness.
Additionally, for consistency, we are clarifying that commercial First-Class Mail® letter-size pieces that meet one or more of the nonmachinable characteristics are subject to nonmachinable prices.
Although this clarification will not be published in the DMM until May 31, 2015, this revision is effective immediately.
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Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
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100 Retail Letters, Cards, Flats, and Parcels
101 Physical Standards
1.0 Physical Standards for Machinable Letters and Cards
1.1 Physical Standards for Machinable Letters
1.1.1 Dimensional Standards for Letters
[Revise item a to read as follows:]
a. Not less than 5 inches long, 3-1/2 inches high, and 0.007-inch thick. For pieces more than 4-1/4 inches high or 6 inches long, or both, the minimum thickness is 0.009.
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3.0 Physical Standards for Parcels
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[Revise the title of 3.2 to read as follows:]
3.2 Weight and Size
[Revise 3.2 by adding a new second sentence to read as follows:]
***For mailability, all pieces 1/4 inch thick or less must be a minimum of 5 inches in length, 3-1/2 inches in height, and 0.007 inch in thickness.***
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200 Commercial Letters, Cards, Flats, and Parcels
201 Physical Standards
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2.0 Physical Standards for Nonmachinable Letters
2.1 Criteria for Nonmachinable Letters
[Revise 2.1 by adding a new second sentence to read as follows:]
***A mailpiece is nonmailable if it does not meet the minimum dimensional standards in 1.1.1.***
2.2 Additional Criteria for First-Class Mail Nonmachinable Letters
[Revise the first sentence of 2.2 to read as follows:]
Letter-size pieces (except cards) that meet one or more of the nonmachinable characteristics in 2.1 are subject to the nonmachinable prices (see 233.1.4).***
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3.0 Physical Standards for Machinable and Automation Letters and Cards
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3.3 Dimensions and Shape
[Revise the text of 3.3 to read as follows:]
Each machinable or automation letter-sized piece must meet the dimensional standards in 1.1.1. Machinable or automation letter-sized pieces may be subject to additional dimensional restrictions in 3.0, depending on mailpiece design.
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7.0 Physical Standards for Parcels
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7.2 Minimum Size
[Revise the text of 7.2 by adding a new second and third sentence to read as follows:]
***All parcels must be large enough to hold the required delivery address, return address, mailing labels, postage, barcode, endorsements, and other mail markings on the address side of the parcel. For mailability, all pieces 1/4 inch thick or less must be a minimum of 5 inches in length, 3-1/2 inches in height, and 0.007 inch in thickness.
7.3 Maximum Weight and Size
[Revise 7.3 by deleting the first sentence.]
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230 First-Class Mail
233 Prices and Eligibility
1.0 Prices and Fees for First-Class Mail
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[Revise the heading and text of 1.4 to read as follows:]
1.4 Nonmachinable Price
For the letter-size nonmachinable prices see Notice 123 — Price List.
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4.0 Additional Eligibility Standards for Nonautomation First-Class Mail
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[Revise the heading and text of 4.3 to read as follows:]
4.3 Nonmachinable Prices for Letter-Size Pieces
The nonmachinable prices in 1.4 apply to letter-price pieces (except card-price pieces) that meet one or more of the nonmachinable characteristics in 201.2.1.
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We will incorporate these revisions into the next update of the online DMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at http://pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification,
Pricing, 5-14-15
