New Sort Levels for Flats on Pallets

Effective March 31, 2002, the DMM is revised and labeling list L006 is added to allow a new optional level of pallet sort for a limited number of sectional center facility (SCF) service areas. This option is available for Periodicals nonletters (flats and irregular parcels), Standard Mail flats, and Bound Printed Matter flats prepared on pallets.

In some areas of the country, a single SCF service area is served by multiple mail processing facilities. This is most prevalent in large metropolitan areas such as New York City and Chicago. Current labeling lists direct all of the mail on 3-digit and SCF pallets to a single facility even though, in certain situations, not all of the mail is processed at that facility. New labeling list L006 allows mailers to prepare flats on pallets based on specific groupings of 5-digit ZIP Codes to facilitate the entry of the pallets directly into the facility where that mail is processed. To implement this change, we have added a new optional pallet level called a "5-digit metro" pallet prepared using labeling list L006. These pallets will contain mail for certain groupings of 5-digit ZIP Codes that are all processed within a single facility. In the sortation hierarchy, the 5-digit metro pallet follows the 5-digit scheme and 5-digit sort levels and precedes the 3-digit and SCF sort levels. A 5-digit metro pallet could contain carrier route, 5-digit, and 3-digit packages.

Although the 5-digit metro pallet may appear to resemble the 5-digit scheme pallet in that they both contain mail for multiple 5-digit ZIP Codes going to the same mail processing facility, they are in fact very different sort levels. L001 is designed primarily to direct a pallet containing carrier route packages for multiple 5-digit ZIP Codes that are sorted to carriers in the same delivery unit to that delivery unit. L006 is designed to direct a pallet containing mail for more than one delivery unit to the appropriate plant where the carrier route, 5-digit, and 3-digit packages for the ZIP Codes on the pallet are most efficiently sorted to a flat sorting machine or delivery unit. Mailers must prepare 5-digit scheme pallets for those ZIP Codes listed in labeling list L001; mailers will have the option (but will not be required) to prepare 5-digit metro pallets for ZIP Codes listed in labeling list L006.

The Postal Service and its customers will benefit from this new optional sort because mail will be prepared and deposited more efficiently, going directly to the facility where the packages of mail are processed by the Postal Service and avoiding extra handling and transportation.

• A few things to keep in mind:
• The 5-digit metro sort is optional.
• Only mail prepared as packages on pallets is eligible for this new sort level.
• For all flats and irregular parcels on pallets, the 3-digit sort level remains optional and is not affected by the addition of the optional 5-digit metro sort level. Mailers may prepare both optional sort levels or only one.
• For the purposes of rate eligibility, mail on pallets labeled to the facilities listed in L006 are eligible for destination SCF discounts and destination delivery unit discounts where permitted by the standards for each class of mail.
• It is recommended that mailers who choose to perform SCF or BMC pallet protection (M045.4.0 and 5.0) adjust their presort software so that 5-digit metro pallets are not created at the expense of the SCF or BMC pallets. If, by creating 5-digit metro pallets, a significant quantity of mail falls beyond the SCF or BMC pallet level, then mailers should consider NOT creating metro pallets. As a reminder, PAVE-certified software is required to perform SCF and BMC pallet protection.
• PAVE-certified presort software is not required to sort mail to 5-digit metro pallets. However, the 5-digit metro pallet sort will be included in the next PAVE testing cycle.

This revision to the Domestic Mail Manual will be incorporated into the printed version of DMM 57 and into the monthly update of the online DMM available via Postal Explorer at http://pe.usps.gov.

— Mail Preparation and Standards