Effective January 19, 2017, the Postal Service™ is revising the Administrative Support Manual (ASM) to update policies related to the disclosure of information to customers when resolving a complaint or other customer-service inquiry.
Administrative Support Manual (ASM)
* * * * *
2 Audits and Investigations
27 Security
274 Mail Security
274.5 Disclosure of Information Collected From Mail Sent or Received by Customers
[Add new item f.11 to read as follows:]
11. To resolve a complaint or other customer-service inquiry from a sender or recipient of a mailpiece, an image of the front of the mailpiece may be disclosed to such sender or recipient by a USPS employee, provided that the sender or recipient expressly requests the mail image (or provides express consent for its disclosure). The USPS employee must be able to verify that the person or entity is the actual sender or recipient of the mailpiece through proof that is either provided at the time of the inquiry or that already exists within the confines of a preexisting relationship, before the disclosure request is fulfilled.
We will incorporate this revision into the next online update of the Administrative Support Manual (ASM), which is available on the Postal Service PolicyNet website:
n Go to http://blue.usps.gov.
n In the left-hand column under “Essential Links”, click PolicyNet.
n Click Manuals.
The direct URL for the Postal Service PolicyNet website is http://blue.usps.gov/cpim.
— Office of Counsel,Postal Inspection Service, 1-19-17
