A House-Senate panel has approved legislation to keep the government from closing down when the new budget year starts next week and employed a $4 billion bookkeeping maneuver to keep the financially troubled Postal Service afloat. The financially struggling Postal Service would be allowed to cover a budget shortfall by reducing its annual payment to a health care fund for retirees by $4 billion. Under current law, the Postal Service is required to transfer $5.4 billion to the Retiree Health Benefits Fund by Sept. 30, but Postal officials say they don’t have enough money to make the payment.
First-Class Mail Incentive Program
The Postal Regulatory Commission has completed its review of our First-Class Mail Incentive Program. Qualifying customers can receive a 20 percent credit on presorted and automation First-Class Mail cards, letters, and/or flats volume exceeding their established threshold. The incentive program starts October 1, 2009 and runs through December 31, 2009.
For more information about the First-Class Mail Incentive Program check out: http://www.usps.com/promotions/firstclassmailincentive.htm
September 8, 2009
DMM Advisory
Pricing — keeping you informed about the prices and mailing standards of the United States Postal Service
September DMM Update
Postal Explorer (pe.usps.com) is your source for up-to-date mailing standards. The Domestic Mail Manual is fully searchable on Postal Explorer and features fly-out menus, cross-reference links, and an extensive subject index. We updated our mailing standards with the following changes:
Express Mail Refunds for Shipments of Live Animals
We revised 114.3.1, 414.3.0, and 604.9.2.4 to reflect that Express Mail shipments containing live animals are now exempt from next day or second day delivery guarantee. The delivery refund guarantee of live animals is extended to within three days from the date of mailing to account for airline flight changes that occur to protect the well-being of the animals.
Change in Intelligent Mail Barcode Requirements for Qualified Business Reply Mail and Permit Reply Mail
We revised 507.9.0, 507.10.0, and 708.4.3.1 to postpone the Intelligent Mail barcode requirement for qualified Business Reply Mail (QBRM) and permit reply mail (PRM) pieces until May 2011. Revising the timeline is consistent with the Intelligent Mail barcode requirement for automation letters, flats and other BRM pieces.
Booklets: Sealing Letter-Sized Booklets Mailed at Automation Prices
We revised 201.1.0 and 201.3.0 to reflect changes to the construction and sealing of letter-sized booklets mailed at automation, presorted machinable or carrier route letter prices. We clarify tab placement on small letter-size booklets; construction of mailpieces with glued flaps; and, add one booklet sealing option.
Our next scheduled DMM update is October 5.
September 4, 2009
DMM Advisory
Pricing — keeping you informed about the prices and mailing standards of the United States Postal Service
Intelligent Mail Services Update
Guides & Specifications Updates: The Postal Service™ has updated the Guides and Specifications in preparation for PostalOne!® release 22 on November 15 to support the Intelligent Mail® Full-Service pricing incentives that will be effective on November 29, 2009. Release 22 will allow mailers to use Mail.XML® to provide improved solutions for copalletization, provide electronic documentation, and retrieve Mailer IDs, Customer Registration IDs, and Full-Service feedback. The following guides and specifications are posted on RIBBS™:
- Postal Service Mail.dat Technical Specification
- Postal Service Mail.XML Technical Specifications which is separated based on subject matter into the following volumes:
§ Postal Service Mail.XML Technical Specification for Postage Payment & Reporting
§ Postal Service Mail.XML Technical Specification for Appointment Scheduling (FAST)
§ Postal Service Mail.XML Technical Specification for Profiles & Full-Service Feedback
Centralized Postage Payment (CPP) Mailers: The eDoc Process: A Guide for CPP Customers is a comprehensive resource for Periodicals mailers who are engaged in the Centralized Postage Payment (CPP) program and now wish to participate in electronic documentation and payment option using Mail.dat 9-1 and the consolidated payment feature. This guide provides step-by-step instructions on the process for migrating from the current manual payment process via the PCSC in New York to utilizing Mail.dat and the electronic payment feature via the local mail presentment facility. We encourage all CPP mailers to work with their business partners to start migrating to paying for their publications using the electronic documentation and payment process outlined in the guide.
A CPP Mailer Goes Live: Publisher Condé Nast, a CPP mailer, has made great strides in migrating to Intelligent Mail. They began printing Intelligent Mail barcodes on their publication Golf World in February 2008 working closely with their printer Quad/Graphics, and their fulfillment company CDS Global. In May, Condé Nast began using the Intelligent Mail barcode to retrieve their address correction information through the OneCode ACS® service on their Golf World and The New Yorker publications. Last month, Condé Nast began using the electronic documentation and payment options for Golf World, migrating away from the manual CPP process of payment via the Pricing and Classification Service Center. On August 26, Condé Nast started using the Intelligent Mail Full-Service option for Golf World and delegated the receipt of the Full-Service ACS information to CDS Global. The Mailer ID on the mailpiece is being used to channel their Full-Service ACS data to CDS Global. Condé Nast plans to move The New Yorker and other publications to the Full-Service option in the near future.
The document United States Postal Service Intelligent Mail Vision, July 2009 is available on RIBBS.
Full-Service Intelligent Answers: We are conducting a series of telecons entitled Full-Service Intelligent Answers. The calls continue this Friday from 1:00-2:00 PM EDT. These calls are for customers who are testing file submission in the Test Environment for Mailers (TEM) or for customers who have migrated to using Full-Service in production and have questions or are experiencing issues. Mailers can exchange information among themselves and postal experts will be available to answer questions. If you are currently testing in TEM or have successfully completed the TEM process, but have not received an invitation to the calls, please contact the PostalOne! Help Desk at 1-800-522-9085.
National Postal Forum: Save the date. The 2010 National Postal Forum is scheduled for April 11-14 in Nashville TN.
Assistance: Please call the PostalOne! Help Desk at 1-800-522-9085 if you have any questions or problems accessing the Business Customer Gateway, your accounts, or submitting electronic documentation. The PostalOne! Help Desk is accessible from Canada at no charge.
Despite very aggressive cost cutting, the Postal Service is projecting financial losses for this and the next several years. This is due to a significant decline in mail volume and a major requirement to prefund its retiree health benefits. The Postal Service is committed to fulfilling its fundamental role as a deliverer of mail and packages to all Americans. To accomplish this, the Postal Service is developing a plan to transition from six- to five-day delivery on a national basis. This will remove delivery costs and help bring the financial picture into better balance. The alternative would be large price increases.
The Postal Service would like your opinion, as a business customer, about this plan to transition from six- to five-day delivery. Key components of the five-day delivery plan are contained in the survey itself. The online tool we are using is called SurveyMonkey and should only take about five minutes to complete. Responses will be kept confidential.
Please forward the following online link to your respective members:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/MTAC5D
When forwarding the link it will be useful for you to communicate a few key points to your members as follows:
The purpose of this survey should be considered critically important in determining the very near term future of the U.S. Postal Service and the mailing industry.
Detailed instructions are included within the survey itself.
We are asking that only one individual for each of your respective company members respond.
We are looking for as many responses as possible from all types of customers within all industries.
Although the survey should take little time to complete, if interrupted, respondents may exit the survey and return at a future time to complete it. Completing the survey and submitting it is critically important.
Once a respondent has clicked on the “Done” button on the last page they may not make any additional changes.
Responses are requested by cob Friday, September 11, 2009
