A requester may be charged a fee for some or all of the Postal Service’s direct costs. Fees are based on the amount of time it takes to process a request, the number of pages provided, and a requester’s fee category (educational, news media, commercial, or other).
- Educational and news media requesters are charged for duplication costs in excess of 100 pages.
- Commercial requesters are charged fees for search time, review time, and duplication costs.
- Other requesters are charged fees for search time in excess of two hours and duplication costs in excess of 100 pages.
Duplication costs are 15 cents per page. Search time and review time is $21 per half hour or $42 per hour. Direct costs are assessed for information that must be retrieved by computer. If the assessable cost is $25.00 or less, we do not charge a fee. If the fee exceeds $25 and you did not indicate willingness to accept all costs, the Postal Service will notify you of the estimated fee and ask for your written agreement to accept liability. If the estimated fee is over $250, our regulations allow us to collect an amount up to the full estimated cost before processing the request.