Effective April 1, 2025, the Postal Service™ refined service standards for domestic retail and commercial Priority Mail Express® delivery service.
Although the Postal Service implemented these new standards April 1, 2025, the revisions will be included in the July 13, 2025, edition of Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®).
Various sections of the DMM will be revised to align with operational initiatives that the Postal Service is implementing nationally to fundamentally transform the Postal Service processing and transportation networks to achieve greater operational precision and efficiency, significantly reduce costs, and enhance service in accordance with the Postal Service’s Delivering for America® strategic plan (DFA Plan).
Priority Mail Express delivery service will have a 1-day, 2-day, or 3-day service standard depending on various factors, including the mail item’s origin and destination 5-digit ZIP Code™, and the date on which the Postal Service officially accepted the item.
This revised standard will not affect other Priority Mail Express product features. Priority Mail Express will continue to be a money-back guaranteed product with delivery available 7 days per week in certain areas.
Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
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100 Retail Mail Letters, Cards, Flats, and Parcels
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110 Retail Mail Priority Mail Express
113 Prices and Eligibility
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4.0 Service Features of Priority Mail Express
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[Revise the title of 4.2 to read as follows:]
4.2 Priority Mail Express Delivery
4.2.1 Availability
[Revise the text of 4.2.1 to read as follows:]
Priority Mail Express offers delivery in 1, 2, or 3 delivery days depending on various factors, including the date on which the item is deemed accepted by the Postal Service, and based on the origin and destination ZIP Codes.
4.2.2 Acceptance
[Revise the text of 4.2.2 to read as follows:]
Priority Mail Express items must be presented no later than the local Post Office’s mail-acceptance time. Priority Mail Express items mailed after the local Post Office mail-acceptance time are deemed to have been mailed on the next day the office is open, subject to the standards for this service.
4.2.3 Delivery Time
[Revise the first and second sentence of 4.2.3 to read as follows:]
Items are delivered by 6 p.m. on the scheduled delivery day. The Postal Service will notify the addressee if delivery is not made.***
4.2.4 Hold for Pickup
[Revise the text of 4.2.4 to read as follows:]
Except for Priority Mail Express mailpieces containing cremated remains, under Hold for Pickup service, items presented under 4.2 are available for pickup by the addressee at the destination facility by 6 p.m. of the scheduled delivery day that the destination office is open for retail business.
[Delete 4.3, “Priority Mail Express 2-Day Delivery,” in its entirety and renumber current 4.4 as 4.3.]
115 Mail Preparation
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[Revise the title of 2.0 to read as follows:]
2.0 Priority Mail Express Labels
2.1 Mailing Label
[Revise the introductory text of 2.1 to read as follows:]
Priority Mail Express items must be labeled as follows:
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[Delete 2.3, “ZIP Code Determination,” in its entirety.]
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116 Deposit
[Revise the title of 1.0 to read as follows:]
1.0 Priority Mail Express Deposit
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200 Commercial Mail Letters, Cards, Flats, and Parcels
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210 Commercial Mail Priority Mail Express
213 Prices and Eligibility
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4.0 Service Features of Priority Mail Express
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[Revise the title of 4.2 to read as follows:]
4.2 Priority Mail Express Delivery
4.2.1 Availability
[Revise the text of 4.2.1 to read as follows:]
Priority Mail Express offers delivery in 1, 2, or 3 delivery days depending on various factors, including the date on which the item is deemed accepted by the Postal Service, and based on the origin and destination ZIP Codes.
4.2.2 Acceptance
[Revise the text of 4.2.2 to read as follows:]
Priority Mail Express items must be presented no later than the local Post Office’s mail-acceptance time. Priority Mail Express items mailed after the local Post Office mail-acceptance time are deemed to have been mailed on the next day the office is open, subject to the standards for this service.
4.2.3 Delivery Time
[Revise the first sentence of 4.2.3 to read as follows:]
Except for items endorsed “Guaranteed by End of Day” per an approved customer agreement, items are delivered by 6 p.m. on the scheduled delivery day.***
4.2.4 Hold for Pickup
[Revise the text of 4.2.4 to read as follows:]
Except for Priority Mail Express mailpieces containing cremated remains, under Hold for Pickup service, items presented under 4.2 are available for pickup by the addressee at the destination facility by 6 p.m. of the scheduled delivery day that the destination office is open for retail business.
[Delete 4.3, “Priority Mail Express 2-Day Delivery,” in its entirety and renumber current 4.4 and 4.5 as 4.3 and 4.4, respectively.]
4.4 Open and Distribute
[Revise the text of renumbered 4.4 to read as follows:]
Priority Mail Express delivery service may be used to expedite movement of any other class of mail from one domestic USPS facility to another by Priority Mail Express Open and Distribute, subject to the standards in 705.18.0.
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215 Mail Preparation
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[Revise the title of 2.0 to read as follows:]
2.0 Priority Mail Express Labels
2.1 Mailing Label
[Revise the introductory text of 2.1 to read as follows:]
Priority Mail Express items must be labeled as follows:
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[Add a new last sentence to the text of item b. in the DMM PDF version and revise the second sentence of item b. in the DMM HTML version to read as follows:]
b. ***Mailers authorized to present Priority Mail Express items using a Priority Mail Express Manifesting System must follow label preparation procedures in Publication 97, Priority Mail Express Manifesting Business and Technical Guide.
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[Delete 2.3, “ZIP Code Determination,” in its entirety.]
216 Enter and Deposit
[Revise the title of 1.0 to read as follows:]
1.0 Priority Mail Express Enter and Deposit
[Revise the introductory text of 1.0 to read as follows:]
Commercial Priority Mail Express must be entered and deposited as follows:
[Revise items a. and b. by reversing their order. Revise the first sentence of reordered item a. to read as follows:]
a. The item must be entered or deposited by the local Post Office’s designated mail-acceptance time.***
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500 Additional Mailing Services
503 Extra Services
1.0 Basic Standards for All Extra Services
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1.4.1 Eligibility — Domestic Mail
Exhibit 1.4.1 Eligibility — Domestic Mail
[Revise the COD entry above by deleting the parenthetical “(1-Day and 2-Day only)” under “Priority Mail Express10.”]
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9.0 Collect on Delivery (COD)
9.1 Basic Standards
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9.1.5 Priority Mail Express COD
[Revise the first sentence of 9.1.5 to read as follows:]
Any article sent COD also may be sent by Priority Mail Express when a signature is requested.***
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600 Basic Standards for All Mailing Services
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604 Postage Payment Methods and Refunds
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9.0 Exchanges and Refunds
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9.5 Priority Mail Express Postage and Fees Refunds
[Revise the title and text of 9.5.1 to read as follows:]
9.5.1 Priority Mail Express Delivery
For Priority Mail Express 1-day, 2-day, and 3-day delivery, unless an item’s delivery was delayed by one of the situations described in 9.5.5, USPS refunds the postage and Sunday or holiday premium fee for the following, subject to the standards for this service:
a. An item not delivered;
b. An item for which delivery was not attempted; or
c. If the item was not made available for claim by the delivery date and time specified at the time of mailing.
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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, 4-17-25
