USPS Address Standards

USPS Changes Proposed

New Address Standards for Presorted, Carrier Route, and Automation Rate Letters and Flats

The USPS plans to publish final rules in January 2008 and give mailers at least 12 months to update their mailing systems and make related changes to mailpiece design.

Address Placement for Periodicals, Standard Mail, Bound Printed Matter, Media Mail, and Library Mail Flats:

Under the new standards, all letters mailed at discount rates must be addressed using a minimum of 8-point type. In addition, for automation rate letters, the lines and the characters in the address must not touch or overlap, and each element on the address line may be separated by no more than three blank character spaces. We are proposing these changes to improve address readability for our high-speed processing systems and for our letter carriers during delivery. Legible, standardized address information enhances the processing and delivery of mail, reduces undeliverable-as-addressed mail, and provides mutual cost reduction opportunities through improved efficiency. We can better ensure effective, accurate, and timely delivery when letter carriers receive mailpieces clearly addressed in a readable format.

For flats, our proposal includes new barcode and address formatting standards. We also require mailers to place the delivery address near the top of Periodicals, Standard Mail, Bound Printed Matter, Media Mail, and Library Mail pieces (see illustration below) to ensure efficient processing and delivery in the new automated flats environment. We also propose to require an 11-digit POSTNET barcode or Intelligent Mail barcode on flat-size First-Class Mail, Periodicals, Standard Mail, and Bound Printed Matter sent at automation rates.

The Postal Service is implementing a new technology, the Flats Sequencing System (FSS), to automate delivery sequencing for flat-size mail. Currently, flat-size mail is sorted mechanically only to the 9-digit ZIP Code or carrier level, and then manually sorted into delivery order by carriers. FSS can sort flat-size mailpieces into delivery sequence, increasing efficiency by reducing carriers' time sorting mail, and allowing carriers to begin delivering mail earlier in the day.

Similar technology boosted postal efficiencies in processing and delivering letter mail in the 1990s. We can significantly increase efficiency and reduce delivery costs for flat-size mail with FSS technology. FSS can sequence flat mail at a rate of approximately 16,500 pieces per hour. Scheduled to operate 17 hours per day, each machine will be capable of sequencing 280,500 mailpieces daily to more than 125,000 delivery addresses. As we move toward national deployment of FSS, we are working closely with the mailing industry to make the most of this investment and achieve the lowest combined costs for handling flat-size mail, including developing new standards for optimal addressing. Unlike letter mail, which is fairly uniform in size and address location, flat mail covers a broad range of sizes and has highly variable address placement. We need new mailing standards for this diverse mailstream to promote consistent addressing for all flat-size pieces and ensure efficiency in all flats processing and delivery operations.