Elements of addressing and preparing domestic mail All mailable articles (e.g., letters, flats, machinable parcels, irregular parcels, etc.) shipped within the United States must comply with an array of standards published in the USPS Domestic Mail Manual (DMM). Before addressing the mailpiece, one must first comply with the various mailability standards relating to attributes of the actual mailpiece such as: minimum/maximum dimensions and weight, acceptable mailing containers, proper mailpiece sealing/closure, utilization of various markings, and restrictions relating to various hazardous (e.g., explosives, flammables, etc.) and restricted (e.g., cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, etc.) materials, as well as others articulated in § 601 of the DMM. Undeliverable mail that cannot be readily returned, including mail without a return address, is treated as
dead mail at the Mail Recovery Center in
Atlanta,
Georgia. The USPS maintains a list of proper abbreviations. The format of a return address is similar. Though some
style manuals recommend using a comma between the city and state name when typesetting addresses in other contexts, for optimal automatic character recognition, the Post Office does not recommend this when addressing mail. The official recommendation is to use all upper case block letters with proper formats and abbreviations, and leave out all punctuation except for the
hyphen in the ZIP+4 code. If the address is unusually formatted or illegible enough, it will require hand-processing, delaying that particular item. The USPS publishes the entirety of their postal addressing standards.
Postal address verification tools and services are offered by the USPS and third-party companies to help ensure mail is deliverable by fixing formatting, appending information such as ZIP Code and validating the address is a valid
delivery point. Customers can look up ZIP Codes and verify addresses using USPS Web Tools available on the official USPS website and Facebook page, as well as on third-party sites.
Delivery Point Validation Delivery Point Validation (DPV) provides the highest level of address accuracy checking. In a DPV process, the address is checked against the AMS data file to ensure that it exists as an active delivery point. The USPS provides DPV on their website as part of the ZIP Code Lookup tool; there are also companies that offer services to perform DPV in bulk.
Paying postage Postage can be paid via: • Stamps purchased online at usps.com, at a post office, from a stamp vending machine or "Automated Postal Center" which can also handle packages, or from a third party (such as a grocery store) •
Pre-cancelled stamps for bulk mailings • Postal meter • Prepaid envelope • Shipping label purchased online and printed by the customer on standard paper (e.g., with
Click-N-Ship, or via a third-party such as
PayPal or
Amazon shipping) All unused
U.S. postage stamps issued since 1861 are still valid as postage at their indicated value.
Non-denominated stamps and those with values denominated by a letter are "valid at the original prices of issue". Additionally,
Forever Stamps have been sold since 2007, which will always be valid for First-Class Mail up to , regardless of rate changes. In 2011, all first-class one ounce stamps, except for those sold in select coil sizes, "became forever stamps". The cost of mailing a First-Class letter increased to 73 cents on July 14, 2024.
Postage meters A postage meter is a mechanical device used to create and apply physical evidence of postage (or franking) to mailed matter. Postage meters are regulated by a country's postal authority; for example, in the United States, the United States Postal Service specifies the rules for the creation, support, and use of postage meters. A postage meter imprints an amount of postage, functioning as a postage stamp, a cancellation and a dated postmark all in one. The meter stamp serves as proof of payment and eliminates the need for adhesive stamps.
PC Postage In addition to using standard stamps, postage can now be printed in the form of an electronic stamp, or e-stamp, from a personal computer using a system called
Information Based Indicia. This online PC Postage method relies upon application software on the customer's computer contacting a postal security device at the office of the postal service.
Other electronic postage payment methods International services In May 2007, the USPS restructured international service names to correspond with domestic shipping options. Formerly, USPS International services were categorized as Airmail (Letter Post), Economy (Surface) Parcel Post, Airmail Parcel Post, Global Priority, Global Express, and Global Express Guaranteed Mail. The former Airmail (Letter Post) is now First-Class Mail International, and includes small packages weighing up to . Economy Parcel Post was discontinued for international service, while Airmail Parcel Post was replaced by Priority Mail International. Priority Mail International Flat-Rate packaging in various sizes was introduced, with the same conditions of service previously used for Global Priority. Global Express is now Express Mail International, while Global Express Guaranteed was unchanged. All international package services come with USPS tracking up until the point it leaves the US, with further tracking availability dependent on the destination country. First-Class Mail letters and flats are not trackable. On September 29, 2024, Global Express Guaranteed service was suspended to all destinations. One of the major changes in the updated naming and services definitions is that USPS-supplied mailing boxes for Priority and Express mail are allowed for international use. These services are offered to ship letters and packages to almost every country and territory on the globe. The USPS contracts with various commercial and freight airlines to transport mail and packages to their destination. The Fly America act of 1974 mandates that the postal service must use a US Flag Carrier whenever one is available, regardless of cost. Exceptions apply for destinations not served by US carriers. The USPS provides an '''''' service for international shipment of
printed matter; previously surface M-bags existed, but with the 2007 elimination of surface mail, only airmail M-bags remain. The term "M-bag" is not expanded in USPS publications; M-bags are simply defined as "direct sacks of printed matter ... sent to a single foreign addressee at a single address";
Military mail is billed at domestic rates when being sent from the United States to a military outpost, and is free when sent by deployed military personnel. The overseas logistics are handled by the
Military Postal Service Agency in the Department of Defense. Outside of forward areas and active operations, military mail service speeds vary greatly based on location. First-Class takes 7–18 days, Priority 7–18 days, Parcel Select and Media Mail 18–45 days, and Priority Mail Express military takes 3 days, though it is only available to select European, North American, and Pacific posts. Three independent countries with a
Compact of Free Association with the U.S. (
Palau, the
Marshall Islands, and the
Federated States of Micronesia) have a special relationship with the United States Postal Service: • Each associated state maintains its own government-run mail service for delivery to and pickup from retail customers. • The associated states are integrated into the USPS addressing and ZIP Code system. • The USPS is responsible for transporting mail between the United States and the associated states, and between the individual states of the Federated States of Micronesia. Incoming mail does require customs declarations because, like some U.S. territories, the associated states are outside the main
customs territory of the United States.
Discontinuation of international surface mail Sorting and delivery process Processing of standard sized envelopes and cards is highly automated, including reading of handwritten addresses. Mail from individual customers and public USPS mailboxes is collected by letter carriers into plastic tubs, which are taken to one of approximately 251
Processing and Distribution Centers (
P&DCs) across the United States. Each P&DC sorts mail for a given region (typically with a radius of around ) and connects with the national network for interregional mail. Since the late 20th century, the USPS has been reducing
point-to-point links in favor of a
spoke-hub distribution paradigm, with sorting work tightly concentrated at the hubs. During the 2010s, the USPS consolidated mail sorting for large regions into the P&DCs on the basis that most mail is addressed to faraway destinations, but for cities at the edge of a P&DC's region, this means all locally addressed mail must travel long distances (that is, to and from the P&DC for sorting) to reach nearby addresses. At the P&DC, mail is emptied into hampers which are automatically dumped into a Dual Pass Rough Cull System (DPRCS). As mail travels through the DPRCS, large items, such as packages and mail bundles, are removed from the stream. As the remaining mail enters the first machine for processing standard mail, the
Advanced Facer-Canceler System (AFCS), pieces that passed through the DPRCS but do not conform to physical dimensions for processing in the AFCS (e.g., large envelopes or overstuffed standard envelopes) are automatically diverted from the stream. Mail removed from the DPRCS and AFCS is manually processed or sent to parcel sorting machines. In contrast to the previous system, which canceled and postmarked the upper right corner of the envelope, thereby missing any stamps which were inappropriately placed, the AFCS locates
indicia (stamp or metered postage mark) regardless of the orientation of the mailpiece as it enters the machine, and cancels it by applying a
postmark. Detection of indicia enables the AFCS to determine the orientation of each mailpiece and sort it accordingly. The AFCS rotates and flips over mailpieces as needed, so all mail is sorted right-side up and faced in the same direction in each output bin. Mail is sorted by the AFCS into three categories: mail already affixed with a
bar code and addressed (such as business reply envelopes and cards); mail with machine printed (typed) addresses; and mail with handwritten addresses. Mail with typed addresses goes to a
Multiline Optical Character Reader (MLOCR) which reads the ZIP Code and address information and prints the appropriate bar code onto the envelope (formerly POSTNET, later Intelligent Mail). Mail with handwritten addresses and illegible typed addresses is diverted from the mailstream to the
Remote Bar Coding System (RBCS). Images of such mailpieces are transmitted through RBCS to the
Remote Encoding Center, where humans (
data entry clerks) read each image and type in the most likely address. Each mailpiece held for RBCS processing is sprayed with an ID Tag, a
fluorescent bar code. When address data comes back from the Remote Encoding Center, RBCS uses the ID Tag bar code to identify the corresponding mailpiece and prints the appropriate bar code, then returns the mailpiece to the mailstream. Processed mail is imaged by the
Mail Isolation Control and Tracking (MICT) system to allow easier tracking of hazardous substances. Images are taken at more than 200 mail processing centers, and are destroyed after being retained for 30 days. If a customer has filed a change of address card and his or her mail is detected in the mailstream with the old address, the mailpiece is sent to a machine that automatically connects to a Computerized Forwarding System database to determine the new address. If this address is found, the machine will paste a label over the former address with the current address and the appropriate bar code. The mail is returned to the mailstream to be forwarded to the addressee's new location. Mail with addresses that cannot be read and bar coded by any of the foregoing automated systems is separated for human intervention. Local postal workers can read the address and manually code and sort mail according to the ZIP Code on the article. If the address still cannot be read, mail is either returned to the sender (First-Class Mail with a valid return address) or is sent to the Mail Recovery Center in Atlanta, Georgia (formerly known as the
dead letter office). At this office, the mail is opened to try to find an address to forward to. If an address is found, the contents are resealed and delivered. Otherwise, the items are held for 90 days in case of inquiry by the customer; if they are not claimed, they are either destroyed or auctioned off at the monthly Postal Service Unclaimed Parcel auction to raise money for the service. Once the mail is bar coded, it is automatically sorted by a
Delivery Bar Code Sorter (DBCS) that reads the bar code, identifies the destination of the mailpiece, and sends it to an appropriate tray that corresponds to the next segment of its journey. There are necessarily two P&DCs for every domestic mailpiece which correspond to the regions in which the sender and recipient are located. The USPS calls these, respectively, the origin and destination P&DCs. Mail for which they are the same (because the senders are located in the same region as the recipients) is either trucked to the appropriate local post office, or kept in the building for carrier routes served directly from the P&DC itself. Out-of-region mail is trucked to the closest airport and then flown, usually as baggage on commercial airlines, to the airport nearest the destination station. At the destination P&DC, mail is again read by a DBCS which sorts items to local post offices; this includes grouping mailpieces by individual letter-carrier route. At the carrier route level, 95% of letters arrive pre-sorted; UPS is the primary air transport supplier to USPS for Priority and Express Mail. Priority Mail and Express Mail are transported from origin processing centers to the closest UPS-served airport, where they are handed off to UPS. UPS then flies them to the destination airport and hands them back to USPS for transport to the local post office and delivery. A 2023 audit by the USPS inspector general found that the facilities selected to serve as the initial S&DCs were operating smoothly and functioning as expected, but criticized the USPS for immediately consolidating workers into the S&DCs before they had been upgraded with adequate amenities like restrooms, break rooms, and locker rooms appropriately sized for such large numbers of employees.
Types of postal facilities area of
Houston, Texas in
Galveston, Texas , was home to the smallest post office in the U.S. Although its retail postal facilities are called post offices in regular speech, the USPS recognizes several types of postal facilities, including the following: • A
main post office (formerly known as a
general post office) is the primary postal facility in a community. • A
station or
post office station is a postal facility that is not the main post office, but that is within the corporate limits of the community. • A
branch or
post office branch is a postal facility that is not the main post office and that is outside the corporate limits of the community. • A
classified unit is a station or branch operated by USPS employees in a facility owned or leased by the USPS. • A
contract postal unit (or
CPU) is a station or branch operated by a contractor, typically in a store or other place of business. • A
finance unit is a station or branch that provides window services and accepts mail, but does not provide delivery. • A
village post office (
VPO) is an entity such as a local business or government center that provides postal services through a contract with the USPS. First introduced in 2011 as an integral part of the USPS plan to close low volume post offices, village post offices will fill the role of the post office within a ZIP Code. • A
processing and distribution center (
P&DC, or
processing and distribution facility, formerly known as a
General Mail Facility) is a central mail facility that processes and dispatches incoming and outgoing mail to and from a designated service area (251 nationwide). • A
sectional center facility (
SCF) is a P&DC for a designated geographical area defined by one or more three-digit ZIP Code prefixes. • An
international service center (
ISC) is an international mail processing facility. There are four such USPS facilities in the continental United States, located in Chicago, New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. • A
network distribution center (NDC), formerly known as a
bulk mail center (BMC), was a central mail facility that processed bulk rate parcels as the hub in a
hub and spoke network. The NDC network was dismantled in 2022–2023 as part of modernization efforts, with NDC duties being returned to the P&DC network. Each of the 20 NDCs is being repurposed to serve the new network. • An
auxiliary sorting facility (
ASF) is a central mail facility that processes bulk rate parcels as spokes in a hub and spoke network. • A
remote encoding center (
REC) is a facility at which clerks receive images of problem mail pieces (those with hard-to-read addresses, etc.) via secure Internet-type feeds and manually type the addresses they can decipher, using a special encoding protocol. The mail pieces are then sprayed with the correct addresses or are sorted for further handling according to the instructions given via encoding. The total number of RECs is down from 55 in 1998 to just 1 center in December 2016. The last REC is in
Salt Lake City, Utah. • A
remotely managed post office (
RMPO) is an office with part-time window hours that is staffed by a Postal Service employee but managed remotely by a postmaster at a larger office. • A
part-time post office (
PTPO) is a Post Office that offers part-time window service hours, is staffed by a Postal Service employee, and reports to a district office. While common usage refers to all types of postal facilities as "substations", the USPS Glossary of Postal Terms does not define or even list that word. Post Offices often share facilities with other governmental organizations located within a city's central business district. In those locations, often courthouses and federal buildings, the building is owned by the
General Services Administration while the U.S. Postal Services operates as a
tenant. The USPS retail system has approximately 36,000 post offices, stations, and branches.
Self-Service Kiosks main post officeIn 2004, the USPS began deploying Automated Postal Centers (APCs) at USPS locations. In the early 2010s, the USPS renamed APCs to
Self-Service Kiosks (
SSKs). Self-Service Kiosks are
automated and are able to weigh and mail parcels, letters and flats, renew postal office boxes, and print postage.
Evolutionary Network Development (END) program In February 2006, the USPS announced that they plan to replace the nine existing facility-types with five processing facility-types: •
Regional Distribution Centers (
RDCs), which will process all classes of parcels and bundles and serve as Surface Transfer Centers; •
Local Processing Centers (
LPCs), which will process single-piece letters and flats and cancel mail; •
Destination Processing Centers (
DPC), sort the mail for individual letter-carrier route; •
Airport Transfer Centers (
ATCs), which will serve as transfer points only; and •
Remote Encoding Centers (
RECs). Over a period of years, these facilities are expected to replace Processing & Distribution Centers, Customer Service Facilities, Bulk Mail Centers, Logistic and Distribution Centers, annexes, the Hub and Spoke Program, Air Mail Centers, and International Service Centers. The changes are a result of the declining volumes of single-piece First-Class Mail, population shifts, the increase in drop shipments by advertising mailers at destinating postal facilities, advancements in equipment and technology, redundancies in the existing network, and the need for operational flexibility. The program was ended in early 2007 after an analysis revealed that the significant amount of capital investment required to implement the END network concept would not generate the benefits originally anticipated.
Airline and rail division -200 aircraft at
Miami International Airport in 1999 The United States Postal Service does not directly own or operate any aircraft or trains, although both were formerly operated. The mail and packages are flown on airlines with which the Postal Service has a contractual agreement. The contracts change periodically. Contract airlines have included:
UPS,
FedEx Express,
American Airlines,
United Airlines,
Delta Air Lines,
Kalitta Air,
AmeriJet,
Amazon,
Northern Air Cargo, and others. The last air delivery route in the continental U.S., to residents in the
Frank Church–River of No Return Wilderness, was scheduled to be ended in June 2009. The weekly
bush plane route, contracted out to an
air taxi company, had in its final year an annual cost of $46,000, or $2400/year per residence, over ten times the average cost of delivering mail to a residence in the United States. This decision has been reversed by the U.S. postmaster general.
Parcel forwarding and private interchange Private US parcel forwarding or US mail forwarding companies focusing on personal shopper, relocation, Ex-pat and mail box services often interface with the United States Postal Service for transporting of mail and packages for their customers.
Delivery timing seen near
Mendota, California Delivery days From 1810, mail was delivered seven days a week. In 1828, local religious leaders noticed a decline in Sunday-morning church attendance because of local post offices' doubling as gathering places. These leaders appealed to the government to intervene and close post offices on Sundays. The government, however, declined, and mail was delivered seven days a week until 1912. Since then, U.S. Mail (with the exception of Express Mail) has not been delivered on Sunday. Saturday delivery was temporarily suspended in April 1957, because of lack of funds, but quickly restored. Budget problems prompted consideration of dropping Saturday delivery starting around 2009. This culminated in a 2013 announcement that regular mail services would be cut to five days a week, which was reversed by Congress before it could take effect. (See the section
Revenue decline and planned cuts.)
Direct delivery vs. customer pickup Originally, mail was not delivered to homes and businesses, but to post offices. In 1863, "city delivery" began in urban areas with enough customers to make this economical. This required streets to be named, houses to be numbered, with sidewalks and lighting provided, and these street addresses to be added to envelopes. The number of routes served expanded over time. In 1891, the first experiments with
Rural Free Delivery began in less densely populated areas. To compensate for high mail volume and slow long-distance transportation which saw mail arrive at post offices throughout the day, deliveries were made multiple times a day. This ranged from twice for residential areas to up to seven times for the central business district of
Brooklyn, New York. In the late 19th century, mail boxes were encouraged, saving carriers the time it took to deliver directly to the addressee in person. During the 1910s and 1920s, they were phased in as a requirement for service. With "curbside delivery", mailboxes are at the ends of driveways, on the nearest convenient road. "Central point delivery" is used in some locations, where several nearby residences share a "cluster" of individual mailboxes in a single housing. Some customers choose to use
post office boxes for an additional fee, for privacy or convenience. This provides a locked box at the post office to which mail is addressed and delivered (usually earlier in the day than home delivery). Customers in less densely populated areas where there is no city delivery and who do not qualify for rural delivery may receive mail only through post office boxes. High-volume business customers can also arrange for special pick-up. Another option is the old-style
general delivery, for people who have neither post office boxes nor street addresses. Mail is held at the post office until they present identification and pick it up. Some customers receive free post office boxes if the USPS declines to provide door-to-door delivery to their location or a nearby box. People with medical problems can request door-to-door delivery.
Homeless people are also eligible for post office boxes at the discretion of the local postmaster, or can use general delivery.
Special delivery From 1885 to 1997, a service called
special delivery was available, which caused a separate delivery to the final location earlier in the day than the usual daily rounds.
Same-day trials In December 2012, the USPS began a limited one-year trial of same-day deliveries directly from retailers or distribution hubs to residential addresses in the same local area, a service it dubbed "Metro Post". The trial was initially limited to San Francisco and the only retailer to participate in the first few weeks was
1-800-FLOWERS. In November 2013, the Postal Service began regular package delivery on Sundays for Amazon customers in New York and Los Angeles, which it expanded to 15 cities in May 2014. Amazon Sunday delivery has been expanded to most major markets as of September 2015.
Forwarding and holds Residential customers can fill out a form in-person or online to forward mail to a new address, and can also send pre-printed forms to any of their frequent correspondents. They must have a valid address to forward their mail from
and to, and verify their identity. They can also put their mail on "hold", for example, while on vacation. The Post Office will store mail during the hold, instead of letting it overflow in the mailbox. These services are not available to large buildings and customers of a
commercial mail receiving agency, where mail is subsorted by non-Post Office employees into individual mailboxes.
First-class packages In April 2022, the USPS announced it would slow deliveries of almost one third of first-class packages as it sought to rely less on air transportation and find cost savings. In July 2023, USPS eliminated First-Class package service and replaced it with USPS Ground Advantage. USPS also greatly reduced the use of air transportation for First Class Mail letters and flats. == Financial services ==