Initial Federal Register Comment Period has Passed

Initial? Yes, we did say initial. The comment period for our September 27 Federal Register mailing standards proposal ended November 13. This was the earliest we’ve ever published proposed mailing standards supporting a price proposal.

As announced November 1 by Stephen M. Kearney, Vice President, Pricing and Classification at the quarterly Mailers’ Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC) meeting, “after we carefully consider the comments from our first notice, we will provide an analysis, summarize any additional changes to mail preparation based on comments, and offer a revised set of standards and a second comment period in early January 2007.

After the second comment period we’ll issue interim final standards in February. These standards will be as final as we can get them before the Postal Rate Commission's recommended decision (expected in early March), and we plan to publish them about a month before the decision,” Kearney said. “We hope that once we get the recommendation, we will need to change very little except for the new prices. We want to keep the standards as clear and as simple as possible to administer, and allow everyone to be prepared and ready for the May implementation.”

See the current timeline

As always, we will notify mailers using the DMM Advisory, and will provide links to subsequent Federal Register notices at usps.com/ratecase.

Labeling Mixed AADC Trays and Mixed ADC bundles, Trays, and Sacks of First-Class Mail

As announced in the December 7 Postal Bulletin, we have changed the labeling for:

• Mixed automated area distribution center (AADC) trays
  for automation letters
• Mixed area distribution center (ADC) bundles and trays for nonautomation letters and all flats
• Mixed ADC sacks for parcels

Mailers of First-Class Mail® will no longer label this mail to the sectional center facility (SCF) serving the entry Post Office (DMM L002, Column C). A number of these facilities no longer perform the required outgoing mail processing and dispatch these (mixed) containers to the appropriate processing facility downstream. This change will result in mailers labeling mixed AADC and mixed ADC mail directly to the appropriate processing facilities using DMM L002.

Don't change anything else — continue to prepare all trays, bundles, and sacks, as appropriate, according to existing standards. This is merely a change to the labeling of your mixed AADC/ADC containers. Mailers should make this change as soon as possible, but no later than February 18, 2007.

To determine correct “Line 1” information for First-Class Mail mixed AADC and ADC containers, find the 3-digit ZIP code of the entry Post Office in L201, Column A, then use “MXD” followed by city, state, and 3-digit ZIP Code prefix information in the corresponding row in Column C. Keep in mind, for bundles of First-Class Mail flats, depending on volumes and densities, mixed ADC trays can contain bundles to any presort destination, as well as mixed ADC bundle(s).

For mailers using optional endorsement lines (OELs) to label bundles, OELs on mixed ADC bundles must also reflect the appropriate ZIP Code information in DMM L201, Column C.

For additional information, see the December 7, Postal Bulletin. Mailers with questions regarding these changes should contact the Post Office where they enter their mailings.