Sherry L. Freda is Manager of Mailing Standards at Postal Service Headquarters. Her staff writes the mailing standards in the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) and International Mail Manual (IMM) and runs the Postal Explorer Web site for business mailers. We sat down with Ms. Freda to get an update on the DMM Redesign Project.

MC: Why redesign the DMM?

Freda: Virtually every product and activity has an instruction manual, a document that explains how to put the item together and how to get the most out of your investment.

For the U.S. Mail, that document is the Domestic Mail Manual. It contains all of our domestic mailing standards and serves many needs for many audiences. As a result, it’s a very thorough and complex book. Organized around policies, regulations, and procedures, the DMM can be challenging. And not all mailers need all of the information contained in the DMM all of the time.

To address these issues, we are working with Carnegie Mellon University to create a series of DMMs that focus on the needs of the end-users. They break down and reorganize relevant instructions for use by different customers: household and retail mailers, small and medium business mailers, nonprofit mailers, and large business mailers. The series simplifies the presentation of the mailing information, makes it more user friendly, and focuses on the key decisions customers must make to use the mail.

The new DMM series does not change the rules themselves, just the way the information is presented. So far we have published DMM 100, A Customer’s Guide to Mailing, and DMM 200, A Guide to Mailing for Businesses and Organizations. These publications have been received enthusiastically by customers. Now we are working on DMM 300, which will reorganize the official mailing standards in today’s DMM 58 with larger mailers in mind.

MC: What will DMM 300 look like?

Freda: DMM 300 structures mailing standards around the ways businesses approach the mail. Information is organized according to the type of mailing (retail or discount), the shape of the mailpiece (letter, flat, or parcel), and what mailing tasks must be accomplished (like paying for postage or obtaining a permit).

Besides reorganizing the information to better serve mailers, readers will find new navigational aids, new charts and illustrations, a new numbering system, and an expanded index.

MC: How will the new DMM help customers with their mail?

Freda: The new DMM will help mailers find information quickly, understand it more readily, and feel confident that they found the right information and all of the details they need. In usability tests, mailers said they find the new structure to be intuitive and they can easily find what they are looking for.

MC: How does the new DMM fit into the USPS Transformation Plan?

Freda: One of the goals of the Transformation Plan is to make it easier for customers to do business with the Postal Service. The new DMM will help customers better understand our products and services and make the right choices to get the best value from the mail.

It’s part of our commitment to provide the most reliable, universal, and convenient mail service in the world.

MC: When will DMM 300 be published?

Freda: We are planning to publish the new book in 2005. It will replace the current DMM 58 and will be available on the Internet and in print.

MC: Where can employees and customers find the DMM series?

Freda: DMM 100 is available online at www.usps.com and in most Post Offices. DMM 100 is published in English, Spanish, and Chinese. For vision-impaired users, we are planning a large-print and an audio version as well. The DMM 200 is available on Postal Explorer at http://pe.usps.gov and in most business mail entry units and larger Post Offices. When DMM 300 is published, customers can find it online on Postal Explorer.

Editor’s Note: The DMM redesign effort has been recognized in the world of business communication with six awards, including an “Award of Excellence” in the Society for Technical Communication’s prestigious International Technical Publications Competition.