Effective August 29, 2021, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®), section 207.3.3, to add a standard for bound in enclosures in Periodicals. Bound in enclosures are requests or subscription order forms that are bound into a Periodicals publication (or a publication pending Periodicals authorization). They are prepared as a single sheet or multiple pages and include an attached reply card or envelope.
These items must not be counted when determining the percentage of total advertising in the publication. A request or a subscription order form must be included in the total weight of the publication reported on the postage statement.
Although the Postal Service will not publish this revision in the DMM until August 29, 2021, the standard is 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
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207 Periodicals
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3.0 Physical Characteristics and Content Eligibility
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3.3 Permissible Mailpiece Components
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[Add new section 3.3.5 to read as follows and renumber current sections 3.3.5 through 3.3.11 as 3.3.6 through 3.3.12:]
3.3.5 Bound in Enclosures at Periodicals Prices
Only the following material may be included as a bound in enclosure in a Periodicals mailpiece (or a publication pending Periodicals authorization) and be paid for at Periodicals prices, subject to the corresponding conditions:
a. A request or order form for a subscription to an authorized Periodicals publication (or a publication pending Periodicals authorization) that is bound into a Periodicals publication (or a publication pending Periodicals authorization), and which is prepared as a single sheet or multiple pages and includes an attached reply card or an envelope, is not counted as advertising. The request or order form may be part of, or accompanied by, printed material containing information related exclusively to a request or an order for a subscription, provided the request or the subscription order form does not advertise, promote, or offer for sale any other products or services.
b. Enclosures listed in 3.3.5 are not counted when determining the percentage of total advertising in the publication, but they are included in the total weight of the publication reported on the postage statement.
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The Postal Service will incorporate this revision into the next edition of the online DMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification,
Product Solutions, 6-17-21
