G991 NetPost Mailing Online

Summary

G991 contains rate, fee, and classification information about the 3-year NetPost Mailing Online experiment. This experiment allows customers to submit electronic documents and mailing lists via the USPS web site. The USPS sends those files to a contract printer, who prints the mailing job and enters it into the mailstream.

1.0 BASIC ELIGIBILITY

1.1Service Description

The standards in G991 apply to documents that are produced electronically by a customer who pays postage and fees established for the NetPost Mailing Online experimental service and that a printer under contract with the Postal Service converts into hardcopy mailpieces and enters at a postal facility. Certain standards in G991 also are applicable to functionally equivalent services as certified by the USPS.

1.2Customer Eligibility

Any customer who pays the postage and fees quoted by USPS for a mailing may use the NetPost Mailing Online service subject to the terms and conditions of use for the program.

1.3Mailings

NetPost Mailing Online mailings will be produced and entered as follows:

a. Customers create documents and address lists on a computer and transmit them electronically via the USPS Web site (www.usps.com) to NetPost Mailing Online. If a mailpiece in a job is not eligible for an automation rate, a customer may choose to have it entered at the single-piece First-Class Mail rate. There is no minimum or maximum volume requirement for a customer job.

b. Customer jobs will be submitted by NetPost Mailing Online to one or more commercial contract printers for production as a hardcopy mailing.

c. A printer is required to do the following:

(1) Print customer jobs, finish documents, and place them in letter- or flat-size envelopes bearing delivery point barcodes.

(2) Prepare mailings to be eligible for First-Class Mail and Standard Mail automation basic rates as required by standards in E140, E640, and M800.

(3) Print an approved manifest in accordance with P910 for each mailing presented for entry at a postal facility.

1.4Special Services

Special services are not available for NetPost Mailing Online mailings.

2.0 Mail Classification

2.1Customer Responsibility

A customer who uses NetPost Mailing Online service is responsible for claiming the proper rate of postage, subject to the eligibility requirements contained in E100 for First-Class Mail, E600 for Standard Mail, and E600 and E670 for Nonprofit Standard Mail. If Standard Mail rates or Nonprofit Standard Mail rates are claimed in error, the customer may be required to pay the difference between the claimed rate and the applicable First-Class Mail or Standard Mail rate, in accordance with the terms and conditions of use for the program. The USPS will accept the NetPost Mailing Online mailing without delaying it and without requiring a postage adjustment at the time of mailing.

2.2Revenue Deficiency Procedures

If a classification decision is made by the USPS that matter was ineligible for Standard Mail or Nonprofit Standard Mail rates because of a customer’s failure to meet applicable standards, the USPS may take steps to recover the deficiency amount by advising the customer that the credit card account will be billed for the difference between the rate paid and the applicable First-Class Mail rate or Standard Mail rate paid, in accordance with the terms and conditions of use for the program. At such time, the customer also will be advised that the classification decision and related revenue deficiency may be appealed by submitting a letter to the NetPost Mailing Online Program Manager (see G043 for address). If the customer appeals, NetPost Mailing Online will refer the appeal to the Rates and Classification Service Center (RCSC) in Chicago, Illinois, for a final agency decision except in the case of Nonprofit Standard Mail. An RCSC decision upholding a revenue deficiency for Nonprofit Standard Mail may be appealed through the RCSC to the manager of Mailing Standards (see G043 for address) for a final agency decision.

3.0 Functionally Equivalent Systems

NetPost Mailing Online mailings that otherwise meet all addressing and machinability requirements for automation rates are permitted entry at automation rates without meeting required minimum volumes for First-Class Mail, Standard Mail, and Nonprofit Standard Mail mailings. The automation rates applicable to NetPost Mailing Online mailings also are available to other services that are functionally equivalent to NetPost Mailing Online, after certification by the USPS. Certification of functional equivalence requires payment of a $125 fee and demonstration that the service is comparable to NetPost Mailing Online service and capable of all of the following as specified by the USPS:

a. Accepting documents and mailing lists from remote users in electronic form, such as via the Internet, or converting documents and mailing lists to electronic form.

b. Using the electronic documents, mailing lists, and other software, including USPS-certified sortation software that sorts to the finest level of sortation possible, to create barcoded mailpieces meeting the requirements for automation category mail, with 100 percent standardized addresses on all pieces claiming discounted rates.

c. Commingling mailpieces from all sources without diversion to any other system and batching them according to geographic destination prior to printing and mailing.

d. Generating volumes that exceed, on average, otherwise applicable minimum volumes.

4.0 Postage and Fees

4.1Postage

Documents mailed during the experiment are eligible for the following rate categories only:

a. First-Class Mail automation letters and cards mixed AADC rates.

b. First-Class Mail automation flats mixed ADC rates.

c. First-Class Mail single-piece rates.

d. Regular Standard Mail automation letters mixed AADC rates.

e. Regular Standard Mail automation flats basic rates.

f. Nonprofit Standard Mail automation letters mixed AADC rates.

g. Nonprofit Standard Mail automation flats basic rates.

4.2Service Fees

Fees for NetPost Mailing Online service are 1.52 times the sum of printer contractual costs for the particular mailing and $0.005 per impression (printing on one side of a page) for other USPS costs. Price quotes are provided online by NetPost Mailing Online for each mailing that is created and will vary depending on such factors as paper size, number of impressions, use of spot color, finishing option (folding, stapling, saddle stitching, tape binding, self mailer tabbing), envelope type, and the print site.

4.3Mailing Fees

NetPost Mailing Online customers are not required to pay an annual presorted mailing fee or the permit imprint application fee.

5.0 Confidentiality of electronic and hardcopy messages

Electronic documents submitted by customers to NetPost Mailing Online, including messages and mailing lists, are treated as confidential by the USPS. Other than as required to process customer jobs, pursuant to a federal warrant or otherwise pursuant to applicable law, the USPS itself will not review, disclose, or release the content of electronic materials submitted to NetPost Mailing Online. No other NetPost Mailing Online users are permitted to access a customer's documents, nor does the USPS make independent use of them. Once the documents are printed in hardcopy form, they are treated in accordance with E110 and E610.

6.0 REFUNDS AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITIES

6.1Refunds

At the discretion of the USPS, refunds for NetPost Mailing Online postage and fees are available under P014. This standard provides the sole remedy available when matter submitted to NetPost Mailing Online is not delivered, not entered as hardcopy, or is not entered in the form specified by the NetPost Mailing Online customer.

6.2NetPost Mailing Online Disclaimer

The USPS disclaims any responsibility for loss or negligent transmission of electronic files and mail on exactly the terms specified by the Federal Tort Claims Act (28 U.S.C. § 2680(b)) for traditional mail. Under no circumstances is the USPS liable for special or consequential changes that result from use or inability to use NetPost Mailing Online, which is provided “as is” and without warranties of any kind either express or implied. The terms and conditions upon which NetPost Mailing Online is provided to the public are governed solely by the applicable regulations and standards; as such, the USPS disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and good faith and fair dealing.

DMM Issue 58 (8-10-03)

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