Customer Support Ruling

Filing Monthly Postage Statements – Periodicals
Updated October 1996

PS-063 (707.17.5)

This Customer Support Ruling discusses the standards for newspapers authorized to use a monthly postage statement.

No issue of a Periodicals newspaper that is authorized to use a monthly postage statement may contain any inserts or materials which are not printed on sheets of the same weight.  This means that newspapers which contain supplements, parts, or sections that are printed on sheets of a different weight than the sheets on which the basic newspaper is printed cannot be authorized to use a monthly postage statement.  A basic requirement for such an authorization is that all issues be printed on sheets of the same weight.  The procedures for computing postage at the end of the month could not give accurate results if all sheets are not of the same weight.  Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) 707.17.5.

In cases where a Periodicals newspaper is published daily and on Sunday, and the daily issues are printed on sheets of the same weight, but the Sunday issues contain varied weight sheets, such as television guides, magazine sections, or supplements, postmasters are permitted to authorize the use of a monthly postage statement for the daily issues only, and to require a separate PS Form 3541 for each Sunday issue at the time of mailing.

(Signed)
Anita J. Bizzotto
Manager
Mailing Standards
United States Postal Service
Washington DC 20260-3436