Customer Support Ruling

Laminated Card-Type Letter and Postcard

June 2018

PS-350 (201.3.0)

This Customer Support Ruling (CSR) provides the requirements for mailing a laminated card-type letter or postcard mailpiece at the applicable automation letter or postcard prices.

Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) 201.3.2 provides that automation letter and postcard priced mailpieces be "made of paper". Mailers who have been able to establish that their laminated card-type letters and postcards are made of paper and not plastic have been eligible to mail those items at automation letter or postcard prices. Those mailers were grandfathered in as stated in the April 6, 2009, Federal Register Notice (74 FR 15380-15384). This CSR provides the requirements for both laminated card-type letters and postcards to receive the applicable automation prices without any requirements for testing.

In addition to meeting the standards in DMM 201.1.1 for letters or 201.1.2 for postcards, and the automation specifications for automation card-type letters and postcards in DMM 201.3.0, mailers must meet the following matrix of requirements:

  • Pieces must be made of paper under laminate
  • Pieces must have rounded corners that do not exceed a radius of .125 inches
  • Pieces must be a single card type mailpiece, no double cards
  • Pieces must be part of a presorted automation mailing and have an Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMb)
  • Pieces cannot have any ancillary endorsement (If First-Class Mail must use a Service Type ID (STID-260/270) to dispose of the mail)

If the laminated mailpiece has perforations, the following requirements apply:

  • 1mm:1mm Cut-to-Tie ratio preferred; (3mm:3mm maximum)
  • If perforation intersects with an edge, it must begin with a tie
  • Perforation –1” clearance from address, barcode, postage payment area

The Postal Service reserves the right to rescind this CSR if we discover any operational impacts due to this support ruling.

(Signed)

 

Lizbeth Dobbins

Manager

Product Classification

Headquarters, US Postal Service

Washington, DC  20260-5015