Effective July 9, 2023, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®), section 602.1.5.4, to clarify standards for using a return address on domestic mailpieces.
DMM 602.1.5.4 specifies that when U.S. postage is applied to a domestic mailpiece, only a domestic return address is authorized. This section also currently provides an exception that allows a domestic mailpiece to have a foreign return address in certain circumstances as a courtesy.
This exceptional treatment is no longer consistent with changes in international requirements that have evolved in recent years. Moreover, the Postal Service incurs destination-country delivery charges for items returned abroad with a foreign return address, and it does not receive corresponding international postage revenue to cover such costs. The original intent to provide an exception that allowed a foreign return address on a domestic mailpiece is, thus, no longer feasible. Therefore, the Postal Service is accordingly revising section 602.1.5.4 to remove the exception that allowed a domestic mailpiece to bear a foreign return address. After this change takes effect, a domestic mailpiece will be required to bear only a domestic return address.
Although the Postal Service will not publish this revision in the DMM until July 9, 2023, the standards are effective April 1, 2023.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
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600 Basic Standards for All Mailing Services
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602 Addressing
1.0 Elements of Addressing
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1.5 Return Addresses
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[Revise the title and text of 1.5.4 to read as follows:]
1.5.4 Using Return Addresses
Regardless of destination, when U.S. postage is applied to a domestic mailpiece, as defined under 608.2.1 and 608.2.2, only a domestic return address is authorized.
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The Postal Service will incorporate this revision into the July 9, 2023, edition of the online DMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification,
Product Solutions, 3-9-23
