Overview
1.0 Prices, and Fees
2.0 Basic Eligibility Standards for EDDM-Retail Flats
3.0 Content Standards for EDDM-Retail Flats
[10-3-16] For price, see Notice 123—Price List. Flats mailed under EDDM-Retail are not eligible for Nonprofit prices.
There are no annual presort or mailing fees to mail pieces as EDDM-Retail. Ancillary service endorsements are not allowed on pieces mailed as EDDM-Retail flats.
[10-3-16] EDDM-Retail flats are Standard Mail, and are generally subject to Standard Mail eligibility standards, with differences as described in 3.0 due to the use of simplified addresses. Standard Mail may receive deferred handling. The USPS does not guarantee the delivery of Standard Mail within a specified time.
[10-3-16] EDDM-Retail flats are not sealed against postal inspection. Regardless of physical closure, the mailing of articles at EDDM-Retail prices constitutes consent by the mailer to postal inspection of the contents.
No forwarding or return service is available for pieces mailed as EDDM-Retail.
No extra services are available with EDDM-Retail mailpieces.
[10-3-16] Additional Standards for EDDM-Retail Flats are as follows:
- EDDM-Retail flats must weigh no more than 3.3 ounces and must have a length greater than 10-1/2 inches long, or a height greater than 6-1/8 inches high, or a thickness greater than 1/4 inch thick. See 101.2.0 for general minimum and maximum dimensions.
- EDDM-Retail flats must be part of a saturation flats mailing with all pieces bearing simplified addresses meeting the saturation and addressing standards in 602.3.0. Each mailing must consist of 200 or more pieces or 50 or more pounds of mail up to a maximum of 5000 pieces per day per 5-digit ZIP Code. As an exception to this minimum quantity, a mailing to all addresses in a 5-digit ZIP Code area may contain fewer than 200 pieces when there are fewer than 200 deliverable addresses in the entire ZIP Code service area to which the pieces are mailed. All pieces in a mailing must be entered at the designated Post Office servicing the routes and Post Office Box sections to which delivery is intended.
- EDDM-Retail flats are not subject to the ZIP Code accuracy or Move Update standards.
- Additional basic standards for Standard Mail flats in 243.3.0 apply to EDDM-Retail flats, unless stated otherwise in 140.
[10-3-16] EDDM-Retail flats consist of mailable matter that is neither mailed nor required to be mailed as First-Class Mail and that is not authorized to be mailed as Periodicals.
Personal information may not be included in an EDDM-Retail mailpiece.
Mail containing bills or statements of account as defined in 133.3.2 may not be entered as EDDM-Retail mail.
Mail containing handwritten or typewritten matter may not be entered as EDDM- Retail mail.
EDDM-Retail mailpieces may not have First-Class Mail enclosures or attachments. An EDDM-Retail flat may bear a label, a sticker, or a release card eligible as Standard Mail matter, when affixed under 3.5 and 201.8.4. EDDM—Retail flats may bear Repositionable Notes under 202.7.0. EDDM-Retail flats also may bear other attachments eligible as Standard Mail matter if these additional conditions are met:
- The host piece must be at least .009 inch thick.
- The attachment is securely attached, not larger than the host piece, and does not extend beyond the host piece.
- Each piece in the mailing bears the attachment, and the attachment is of identical size, weight, and positioning on the host piece.
- The attachment does not interfere with processing or delivery. Folded or multipage attachments must be secured and sealed to prevent opening during handling.
