Effective July 9, 2023, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®), in various sections, to reflect a change in handling mail items bearing counterfeit postage.
To distinguish handling mail articles without postage under section 604.8.2 from those that contain counterfeit postage, the Postal Service is revising section 604.8.4 to state that mail articles with counterfeit postage will be considered abandoned and disposed of at the discretion of the Postal Service. These items will no longer be returned to the sender. The Postal Service believes that affixing counterfeit postage reflects a refusal to pay postage or an intentional effort to avoid paying postage. For clarity, the Postal Service will also revise various other sections related to the revisions in section 604.8.4.
Although the Postal Service will not publish these revisions in the DMM until July 9, 2023, the standards will be effective May 7, 2023.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
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500 Additional Mailing Services
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507 Mailer Services
1.0 Treatment of Mail
1.1 Nondelivery of Mail
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[Add new item b. to read as follows and renumber current items b. through g. as items c. through h.]
b. Counterfeit postage (see 604.8.4).
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604 Postage Payment Methods and Refunds
1.0 Stamps
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1.4 Imitations of Stamps
[Add a new last sentence to read as follows:]
***(See 8.4.2 for handling items with counterfeit postage.)
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4.0 Postage Meters and PC Postage Products (“Postage Evidencing Systems”)
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4.4 Postage Discrepancies
4.4.1 Definitions
[Delete the last sentence.]
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8.0 Insufficient or Omitted Postage
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8.2 Omitted Postage
8.2.1 Handling Mail With Omitted Postage
[Revise the first sentence of 8.2.1 to read as follows:]
Except under 8.4, matter of any class, including that for which extra services are indicated, received at the office of mailing or office of address without postage, is endorsed “Returned for Postage” and is returned to the sender without an attempt at delivery.***
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[Revise the title and text of 8.4 to read as follows:]
8.4 Counterfeit Postage
8.4.1 Definition
Counterfeit postage is any marking or indicia that has been made, printed, or otherwise created, without authorization from the Postal Service, that is printed, applied, or otherwise affixed on an article placed in the mail that indicates or represents that valid postage has been paid to mail the article.
8.4.2 Handling Items with Counterfeit Postage
Items found in the mail bearing counterfeit postage will be considered abandoned and will be disposed of at the discretion of the Postal Service.
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The Postal Service will incorporate these revisions into the next edition of the online DMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at pe.usps.com.
— Product Classification,
Product Solutions, 4-20-23
