[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 164 (Thursday, August 23, 2018)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 42624]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-18105]


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POSTAL SERVICE

39 CFR Part 111


USPS Marketing Mail Content Standards

AGENCY: Postal ServiceTM.

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Postal Service is contemplating amendment of the Mailing 
Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual 
(DMM[supreg]), to revise content standards for USPS Marketing 
Mail[supreg] letter-size and flat-size pieces regardless of level of 
sortation. This proposed change would limit all USPS Marketing Mail, 
regular and nonprofit, letter-size and flat-size, to content that is 
only paper-based/printed matter; no merchandise or goods will be 
allowed of any type regardless of ``value.'' All items not eligible to 
be sent as USPS Marketing Mail letter-size or flat-size pieces would 
need to shift to another product (e.g., Priority Mail[supreg], Parcel 
Select[supreg]) to be mailed. In an effort to obtain as much customer 
and mailer feedback as possible, the Postal Service will post this 
advance notice of proposed rulemaking for an extended comment period.

DATES: Comments on this advance notice of proposed rulemaking are due 
October 22, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Mail or deliver written comments to the Manager, Product 
Classification, U.S. Postal Service, 475 L'Enfant Plaza SW, Room 4446, 
Washington, DC 20260-5015. Comments and questions can also be emailed 
to [email protected] using the subject line ``USPS 
Marketing Mail Content Eligibility.''

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Direct questions to Elke Reuning-
Elliott by email at [email protected] or phone (202) 268-
4063.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In order to improve both processing and the 
delivery of goods and merchandise moving through the mail stream, the 
Postal Service proposes to limit content in USPS Marketing Mail, 
regular and nonprofit, letter-size and flat-size pieces, to paper-
based/printed matter content. The limitation to non-merchandise, paper-
based/printed matter content would serve three goals: (1) Facilitate 
levels of service expected for the processing and delivery of 
merchandise that include end-to-end tracking and visibility, (2) move 
fulfillment of merchandise and goods out of USPS Marketing Mail, 
consistent with the transfer of fulfillment parcels out of Standard 
Mail (the predecessor to USPS Marketing Mail) in Docket No. MC2010-36, 
and (3) reduce operational inefficiencies when machines are unable to 
process letter-size or flat-size shaped inflexible items. Shifting 
goods and merchandise out of the letter-size and flat-size categories 
helps improve processing capabilities and ultimately shifts these items 
to mail streams with full end-to-end tracking capability consistent 
with market expectations. The Postal Service has many products 
available to support this shift and seeks to align postal processing 
with the intentions of its mailing customers. This shift also 
simplifies the mailing experience: Letter-size and flat-size pieces 
will move through processing and delivery more efficiently. Packages 
with goods and merchandise will have an Intelligent Mail[supreg] 
package barcode (IMpb[supreg]) and will travel through the package 
network stream.

Ruth Stevenson,
Attorney, Federal Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2018-18105 Filed 8-22-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7710-12-P