Effective April 3, 2017, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®) in various sections as a result of the increase in the letter-size mail weight limit to 3.5 ounces published in the Federal Register on December 21, 2016. These revisions include other related changes for clarification.
Although these revisions will not be published in the DMM until April 3, 2017, the standards are effective immediately.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
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200 Commercial Mail 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 the last sentence of 2.1 to read as follows:]
***In addition, a letter-size piece is nonmachinable if it weighs more than 3.5 ounces.
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3.0 Physical Standards for Machinable and Automation Letters and Cards
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3.6 Heavy Letter Mail (over 3 ounces)
[Revise the text of 3.6 to read as follows:]
Heavy letter mail (letter-size pieces over 3 ounces) must be prepared in a sealed envelope, must not contain stiff enclosures, and must have an Intelligent Mail barcode with a routing code in the address block (see 202.5.0) to be eligible for automation prices.
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240 Commercial Mail USPS Marketing Mail
243 Prices and Eligibility
1.0 Prices and Fees
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1.5 Computing Postage for USPS Marketing Mail
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[Delete 1.5.6, Computing Affixed Postage — Heavy Letters, 1.5.8, Discount for Heavy Automation Letters, and 1.5.9, Discount for Heavy ECR Letters, in their entirety. Renumber current 1.5.7 as new 1.5.6.]
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3.0 Basic Eligibility Standards for USPS Marketing Mail
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3.2 Defining Characteristics
3.2.1 Mailpiece Weight
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[Revise the text of items a. and b. to read as follows:]
a. Pieces mailed at automation or machinable letter prices may weigh up to 3.5 ounces. Automation or machinable letter-size pieces weighing more than 3.5 ounces are mailable at the nonautomation, nonmachinable letter prices.
b. Pieces mailed at automation carrier route (saturation, high density, high density plus, and basic) letter prices may weigh up to 3.5 ounces. Automation carrier route letters weighing more than 3.5 ounces are mailable at the applicable nonautomation carrier route letter prices.
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4.0 Price Eligibility for USPS Marketing Mail
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4.3 Piece/Pound Prices
[Revise the first sentence of 4.3 to read as follows:]
Letters that exceed 4 ounces are subject to a two-part piece/pound price that includes a fixed charge per piece and a variable pound charge based on weight.***
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7.0 Eligibility Standards for Automation USPS Marketing Mail
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[Delete 7.7 in its entirety.]
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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, 3-16-17
