Effective March 6, 2017, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®), part 503, to clarify USPS Tracking® eligibility.
Except for Periodicals, USPS Tracking is available for all products, some with restrictions. Currently, the DMM does not address the restriction that applies to First-Class Mail®. For First-Class Mail, only parcels are eligible for USPS Tracking. This revision will update Exhibit 503.1.4.1, Eligibility — Domestic Mail, and section 503.7.0, USPS Tracking, to add that for First-Class Mail, only parcels are eligible for USPS Tracking.
Although this revision will not be published in the DMM until March 6, 2017, these standards are effective immediately.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
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500 Additional Mailing Services
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503 Extra and Additional Services
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1.0 Basic Standards for All Extra Services
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1.4 Eligibility for Extra Services
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1.4.1 Eligibility — Domestic Mail
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Exhibit 1.4.1 Eligibility — Domestic Mail
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USPS Tracking
[Under the “Extra Service” column, revise the parenthetical under “USPS Tracking” to read as follows:]
(Except for Periodicals, USPS Tracking is available for all products, though restrictions may apply. USPS Tracking is provided at no additional charge except for USPS Marketing Mail.)
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[Under the “Eligible Mail” column, revise the text for “USPS Tracking” to read as follows:]
First-Class Mail2
USPS Marketing Mail1, 2
(electronic option only)
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7.0 USPS Tracking
7.1 Basic Standards
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7.1.3 Additional Physical Standards
[Revise the first sentence in the introductory text of 7.1.3 to read as follows:]
In addition to the applicable standards in 101, 201, and 7.1.3 for mail that is eligible for USPS Tracking under 1.4.1, all mailpieces 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 mailpiece.***
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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, Marketing, 2-16-17
