FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	
Contact: Media Relations	202-268-2155
October 29, 2003
	Release No. 080
	www.usps.com

USPS' PARCEL RETURN SERVICES
SIMPLIFIES CATALOG, ONLINE SHOPPING

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The United States Postal Service has launched a 
merchandise returns program custom tailored to catalogers and online 
shippers. Parcel Return Services, launched as a two-year pilot, offers 
merchants a cost-effective way to retrieve items their customers choose to 
return. The service provides added convenience to customers through a 
specially designed, prepaid return label that shippers can place in the 
original packages; mail to customers; or make available to their customers 
to download via the Internet.

Merchants, or their parcel consolidators, who have been approved as 
participants for the Parcel Return Services pilot can choose to pick up 
returned merchandise at a Post Office delivery unit or Bulk Mail Center that 
serves the original customer. By so doing, the Postal Service's incurs less 
cost in processing and transporting parcels back to the mailer's warehouse. 
Participants benefit from lower rates that result from these savings to the 
Postal Service. Customers need only place the pre-printed label on the 
package they wish to return; give it to a letter carrier; drop it in a 
collection box or bring it to the Post Office.

 "The new Parcel Return Services will streamline the mail process for 
everyone," said USPS Manager, Package Services Jim Cochrane. "This service 
will help cataloguers and retailers manage their returns inventory. It can 
also be useful in routing returned merchandise to an alternate destination 
of the merchant's choosing," he added.  

Parcel Return Services has new rates available for general merchandise and 
book returns. The price for parcels picked up at the Post Office nearest the 
customer is $2 per parcel.  Prices for pieces picked up at the Bulk Mail 
Center depend on the weight of the piece and the distance traveled. By 
picking up the parcels at the Bulk Mail Center, merchants can save 24 cents 
to $1.51 per parcel off existing rates. 

This program will give the Postal Service an opportunity to gauge market 
demand for Parcel Return Services. During the first year of the program, the 
Postal Service will have a limit of twenty pre-qualified participants. That 
number can grow to thirty in the second year. For more information about 
Parcel Return Services, your local postmaster can direct you to a USPS 
Account Representative. 

Since 1775, the U.S. Postal Service has connected friends, families, 
neighbors and businesses by mail.  It is an independent federal agency that 
makes deliveries to about 140 million addresses every day and is the only 
service provider to deliver to every address in the nation. The Postal 
Service receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its 
operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services. 
With annual revenues of more than $67 billion, it is the world's leading 
provider of mail and delivery services, offering some of the most affordable 
postage rates in the world. The U.S. Postal Service delivers more than 43 
percent of the world's mail volume - some 203 billion letters, 
advertisements, periodicals and packages a year - and serves seven million 
customers each day at its 38,000 retail locations nationwide.

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