March 13, 2009

Reminder — New Address Placement Standards for Commercial Flat-Size Mail

New standards for commercial flat-size mail go into effect on March 29, 2009, and require mailers to place delivery addresses in the top half of all Periodicals, Standard Mail, and Package Services flats mailed at automation, presorted, or carrier route prices. We proposed the new standards in the Federal Register on October 10, 2007, and published the final standards in the Federal Register on May 7, 2008, and in the Postal Bulletin on February 12, 2009.

For Standard Mail and Periodicals mailings that are not in compliance, the appropriate First-Class Mail prices apply. As an example, Standard Mail or Periodicals automation flats with addresses not in the top half of the piece would pay the automation First-Class Mail flats prices appropriate for the weight of the piece. Presorted Bound Printed Matter, Media Mail, or Library Mail flats with noncompliant addresses are charged the nonpresorted flats prices within the same class of mail.