DMM Advisory | Postal Explorer

Postal Explorer

The Postal Service is reminding customers that metallic mercury and devices containing metallic mercury are always prohibited in the mail stream. This includes antique items such as thermometers, barometers, blood pressure monitors and similar devices.

Pricing & Classification DMM Advisory

Message board to keep postal customers informed of changes to mailing standards, services, and prices.

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June 5, 2018

New Ballot Service Type IDs Effective August 20th, 2018

The United States Postal Service^® remains steadfast in its commitment to the democratic process and the election community. As states and localities increasingly use mail in the election process, the Postal Service remains ready to support the growth in vote-by-mail initiatives. The USPS and Election Community Partners identified the need to increase official ballot mail visibility within the automation environment which has led to solutions to include the use of:

Matching Serial Numbers in the Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) for outgoing and returning ballots, allowing the mailer to track and identify the recipient on both outgoing and incoming ballot mail.
New Service Type Identifiers (STID) in the IMb to distinguish ballot mail in the mail flow effective August 20, 2018.

The ballot mail solution led to the assignment of 23 STIDs to enable tracking of outgoing ballot mail and one unique STID for all returning ballots (votes). These STIDs are available on PostalPro at: https://postalpro.usps.com/mailing/service-type-identifiers.