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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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August 18, 2009

Intelligent Mail^® Services Weekly Update

Guides & Specifications Updates: The Postal Service™ is updating the Guides and Specifications in preparation for PostalOne!^® release 22 on November 15 to support the Intelligent Mail^® Full-Service pricing incentives that will be effective on November 30. Release 22 also provides improved solutions for copalletization and will allow mailers to provide electronic documentation and retrieve Mailer IDs, Customer Registration IDs, and Full-Service feedback using Mail.XML^®.

The Postal Service Mail.dat Technical Specification and Postal Service Mail.XML Technical Specifications are posted on RIBBS™ for mailers to review. For ease of use, the Postal Service Mail.XML Technical Specification is separated based on subject matter into the following three volumes:

These guides are posted on RIBBS as drafts and we want your feedback. Send your comments to imb@usps.gov no later than August 21.

Intelligent Mail^® Full-Service Option – Where We Are: More than seventy mailers have begun testing Full-Service job submissions using Mail.dat^® 9-1 in the Test Environment for Mailers (TEM). Twenty-two have been approved for production and account for over 44 million Full-Service mailpieces being mailed.

Mailers have begun taking advantage of the Full-Service benefits including Full-Service ACS™. The Postal Service™ offers flexible options for the distribution of the Full-Service ACS information. Mail owners can view the Full-Service ACS Change-of-Address (COA) and Nixie Detail Records on-line. They can download them in comma delimited (CSV) or Excel format, or they can receive the data electronically via Mail.XML^®.

Mail owners have the option to delegate access to the Full-Service ACS information. They can use the Mailer ID delegation tool to re-direct the data to their mail preparer or a third party. Mailers who are ready to use Full-Service but are not ready to receive the Full-Service ACS can still receive their COA and nixie records by utilizing traditional ACS^® or manual address changes, allowing for a smooth transition. The valuable address correction information offered via Full-Service can be used to update aged addresses to help mailers keep their address lists up to date and increase the ROI of their mailings. Call the PostalOne!^® Help Desk at 1-800-522-9085 if you are ready to test Full-Service and take advantage of the address correction options.

Full-Service Intelligent Answers: We are conducting a series of telecons entitled Full-Service Intelligent Answers. The calls continue this Friday from 1:00-2:00 PM EDT. These calls are for customers who are testing in the Test Environment for Mailers (TEM) or for customers who

have migrated to using Full-Service in production and have questions or are experiencing issues. Mailers can exchange information among themselves and postal experts will be available to answer questions. If you are currently testing in TEM or have successfully completed the TEM process, but have not received an invitation to the calls, please contact the PostalOne! Help Desk at 1-800-522-9085.

Webinar: Full-Service Benefits: Full-Service ACS (August 21): The first in a series of Intelligent Mail Webinars is scheduled for Friday, August 21 from 2:00-4:00 PM EDT. The topic will be Full-Service Benefits: Full-Service ACS. It will describe the address correction information available under the Full-Service option. We will describe the contents of the address correction information, how it is provisioned, and the flexible data distribution options available. It will demonstrate how to optimize the use of Service Type Identifiers (STIDs) and Mailer IDs (MIDs) in the Intelligent Mail barcode and how to construct the electronic documentation to derive the greatest value from Full-Service ACS. It will describe how Full-Service ACS is different from the other address correction services and how mailers can use these in conjunction with Full-Service to ease the transition to Full-Service ACS.

TO ATTEND THE WEB CONFERENCE AND JOIN WITH AUDIO (No earlier than 15 minutes prior to the start):

IMPORTANT NOTE: Ports (seats) are limited. Please connect through the following link, then click on the telephone icon in the upper right of the screen to have the system call you back. This method will use only one port. Please do not use the link and dial in separately. That uses two ports.

1) Browse to: http://meetingplace3.usps.gov/a/f0374f80e6d17ebaf20f9e05d419a371

2) After the MeetingPlace window is open, click the Phone icon (under the Participant List or in the upper right-hand corner).

3) Click Connect Me, validate or update your phone number and click Connect Me again.

4) When the system calls you press 1 to join.

To attend with audio only:

Phone Number: 866-567-8049

Meeting ID: 7383102

Date/Time: August 21, 2009 at 02:00 PM America/New_York

For MeetingPlace problems or issues, please contact the MeetingPlace Help Desk at 1-800-343-1796.

Assistance: Please call the PostalOne! Help Desk at 1-800-522-9085 if you have any questions or problems accessing the Business Customer Gateway, your accounts, or submitting electronic documentation. The PostalOne! Help Desk is accessible from Canada at no charge.