Postage for
Periodicals Paid at Other Than Periodicals Rates – Periodicals
REVISED June 2006
PS-186 (707)
This Customer Support Ruling
discusses circumstances when rates other than Periodicals postage
rates apply for mailing copies of a Periodicals publication.
Domestic Mail Manual (DMM)
707.11.1 provides that copies of Periodicals publications mailed by
their publishers or news agents are subject to the applicable
Outside-County or In-County Periodicals rates of postage, except as
otherwise allowed or required by postal standards.
Publishers may choose to mail any or
all copies of their Periodicals publications at the Express Mail,
Priority Mail, or First-Class Mail rates of postage. However, they
may mail only the types of copies specifically allowed by postal
standards at the Standard Mail or Package Services rates. They may
not, for example, arbitrarily choose to mail subscriber copies at
the Standard Mail or Package Services rates, even though postage
computed at those rates may be lower than postage at the Periodicals
rates.
There also are rules for mailings by
the general public and by printers. The following are some examples
of rates applicable to Periodicals publications when mailed by a
publisher, versus other mailings of Periodicals copies:
1. DMM 707.4.7.1 provides that incomplete copies—for
example, those lacking pages or parts of pages—may not be mailed at
Periodicals rates, but are subject to the applicable First-Class
Mail, Standard Mail, or Packages Services rates of postage.
2. DMM
707.4.10 provides that unbound back issues (and specified reprint
copies) may be mailed at the Periodicals rates, as long as the
publication's Periodicals authorization is in effect. Other mailings
of back issues (and reprint copies), including permanently bound
back issues or reprint copies, are subject to the applicable
First-Class Mail, Standard Mail, or Package Services rates.
The term,
permanently bound back issues refers to the publisher’s
combination of issues or reprints of issues (often a volume of
issues for a year) into bound form, usually offered for sale as a
product. Bound back issues are subject to the applicable First-Class
Mail, Standard Mail, or Package Services rates.
The term, unbound
back issues, refers to individual issues of a Periodicals
publication, regardless of whether the individual issues are bound
(e.g. magazines) or unbound (e.g. newspapers).
3. DMM
707.7.9.1-9.8 sets forth the standards governing when nonsubscriber
(often referred to as “sample”) copies are mailable by a publisher
at Periodicals rates. Nonsubscriber (sample) copies determined to
not be mailable by a publisher at Periodicals rates are subject to
the applicable First-Class Mail, Standard Mail, or Package Services
rates.
4. DMM
707.11.5 provides that the applicable First-Class Mail, Standard
Mail, or Packages Services rates must be paid for copies of
Periodicals publications mailed by the general public—i.e., by
persons other than the publishers or registered news agents—and on
copies returned to publishers or news agents. This provision does
not apply to mailings by publishers of a Periodicals publication.
5. DMM
707.27.2 provides that postage for copies mailed by a printer to a
publisher is chargeable at the applicable First-Class Mail, Standard
Mail, or Package Services rates.
(Signed)
Sherry Suggs
Manager
Mailing Standards
United States Postal Service
Washington DC 20260-3436
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