Effective January 24, 2021, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM®) to reflect changes in shipping services for International Priority Airmail® (IPA®) in support of the realignment of the country groupings and prices.
For more information on the realignment of IPA services, see the article entitled “IMM Revision: Changes to Pricing for International Shipping Services” in Postal Bulletin 22562 (12-31-20, pages 5–15).
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM)
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2 Conditions for Mailing
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290 Commercial Services
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292 International Priority Airmail (IPA) Service
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292.4 Mail Preparation
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[Revise the title of 292.48 to read as follows:]
292.48 Presort Mailings — Price Groups 3–6
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292.482 Preparation
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[Revise item b. to read as follows:]
b. Prepare mail in sacks for letter-size and flat-size mail as defined in 292.483 and 292.484.
292.483 Direct Country and Mixed Country — Optional Sack Preparation
[Revise the first paragraph and 292.483a(1) to read as follows:]
The mailer may optionally prepare direct country sacks or mixed country sacks of presorted IPA letter-size and flat-
size mail when sacks are used for the following processing categories:
a. Full-Service and ISC Drop Shipment — Direct country sacks.
1. Preparation. Mail (letter-size and flat-size) that is addressed to an individual country and that contains 2 pounds or more must be sorted into direct country sacks. Mail that cannot be made up into direct country sacks must be prepared and entered as mixed country sacks or as worldwide nonpresort sacks. The mailer must bundle letter-size and flat-size items as defined in 292.44. The mailer must bundle letter-size items and flat-size items separately, although nonidentical items may be commingled within each of these categories. Face all letter-size items and flat-size items in the same direction and apply a label (facing slip) to the top item as defined in 292.472.
Note: When using this option, the mailer may not place package-size items in the sacks.
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b. ISC Drop Shipment — Mixed country sacks.
[Revise 292.483b(1) to read as follows:]
1. Preparation. Mixed country sacks can be prepared only after all possible direct country sacks have been prepared. The mailer must prepare mixed country sacks for items that contain 5 pounds or more and that are destined within the same price group. Mail that ultimately cannot be made up into direct country sacks or mixed country sacks must be prepared and entered at the worldwide nonpresort price. The mailer must bundle letter-size and flat-size items as defined in 292.44. The mailer must bundle letter-size and flat-size items separately, although nonidentical items may be commingled within each of these categories. Face all letter-size items and flat-size items in the same direction and apply a label (facing slip) to the top item as defined in 292.484.
Note: When using this option, the mailer may not place package-size items in the sacks.
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The Postal Service will incorporate these revisions into the next edition of the online IMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification, Product Solutions, 1-14-21
