Effective June 30, 2022, the Postal Service™ is revising Publication 52, Hazardous, Restricted, and Perishable Mail (Pub 52), part 526, to remove the special-handling fee requirement for shipping bees and day-old poultry via surface transportation (Parcel Select® or USPS Retail Ground®). This revision is due to a Postal Service decision to discontinue the Special Handling – Fragile extra service. This revision will also clarify adult-bird mailability requirements and postage-refund eligibility.
Although the Postal Service will not publish these revisions in Pub 52 until a future edition, the standards are effective immediately.
Publication 52, Hazardous, Restricted, and Perishable Mail
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5 Perishable Matter
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52 Animals
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526 Mailable Live Animals
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526.2 Live Bees
526.21 Mailability Requirements
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[Revise items a. and b. to read as follows:]
a. Honeybees. Honeybees are acceptable to mail only via surface transportation. (See item b. below for exception.) Mailpieces must be plainly marked on the address side with “Live Bees” and “Surface Only” or “Surface Mail Only.”
b. Queen Honeybees. Queen honeybees may be shipped via air or surface transportation. Each mailpiece shipped via air transportation is limited to one queen and eight or less attendant honeybees.
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Exhibit 526.21
Requirements for Mailing Live Bees
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[Under the second column, “Surface Transportation,” delete the second bullet in its entirety.]
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526.22 Claims for Bee Shipments
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[Delete item d. in its entirety.]
526.3 Live, Day-Old Poultry
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526.32 Mailability Requirements
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[Delete item f. and renumber current items g. through i. as items f. through h.]
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526.33 Claims for Live, Day-Old Poultry
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[Delete item d. in its entirety.]
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Exhibit 526.33
Requirements for Mailing Live, Day-Old Poultry
[Delete entry 7 in its entirety, renumber current entries 8
through 10 as entries 7 through 9, and revise all entry number references to read as follows:]
526.4 Adult Birds
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526.42 Mailability Requirements
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[Revise the text of item d. to read as follows:]
d. The mailer must use containers that the director, Product Classification, has approved.
[Renumber current item f. as item e. and revise the text of renumbered item e. to read as follows:]
e. If the mailer is unable to secure a previously approved container, the mailer must submit the proposed container for approval to the director, Product Classification (see part 214 for address). Upon submission, valid written evidence of a test conducted by a competent authority using a full container of live birds throughout a 3-day period of the challenge must be provided. The test must satisfy the following:
(1) Confining live birds in the container must neither endanger the health of the birds nor subject them to inhumane treatment.
(2) Environmental temperatures as high as 99 degrees Fahrenheit, and as low as 0 degrees Fahrenheit or lower for extended periods, must pose no greater physiological stress on birds confined in the container than on birds in containers with conventional ventilation.
(3) The container design must include a low level of light and no visual stimuli to reduce the birds’ awareness of being moved or sense of alarm due to the presence of humans or other animals nearby, reducing the birds’ psychological stress.
[Renumber current item e. as item f. and revise the text of renumbered item f. to read as follows:]
f. The mailer must meet the requirements in Packaging Instruction 10D of Appendix C.
526.43 Claims for Adult Birds
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[Revise the second paragraph of 526.43 to read as follows:]
The Postal Service will not refund postage if the Priority Mail Express shipment was delivered, or delivery was attempted, within three days of the date of mailing shown in the “Date In” box on Label 11. See DMM 604.9.5.5.
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The Postal Service will incorporate these revisions into the next edition of online Publication 52, which is available via Postal Explorer® at pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification,
Product Solutions, 6-30-22
