Customer Support Ruling

Attachments to Bound Periodicals Publications – Periodicals
May 2006

PS-326 (707.3.3.8)

This Customer Support Ruling concerns material that may be attached to the cover of a bound Periodicals publication without enclosing the publication in a mailing wrapper.

Domestic Mail Manual (DMM) 707.3.3.8 states that the following material may be attached to a cover, protective cover, or mailing wrapper of a Periodicals publication:

1. Stickers of any size and shape. If stickers are attached to the cover, protective cover, or mailing wrapper, no portion of the publication title may be obscured.

2. Material allowed as a enclosure described in 707.3.3.3, Enclosures of First-Class Mail or Standard Mail, or 707.3.3.4, Loose Enclosures at Periodicals Rate. When nonincidental First-Class Mail or Standard Mail is attached under 707.3.3.3, the marking “First-Class” or “Letter Enclosed” must be on a First-Class Mail attachment; “Standard” or “STD,” on a Standard Mail attachment.

3. Material normally allowed within the contents of the publication composed of advertising, nonadvertising, or a combination of both, may be attached to the cover or protective cover or protective cover only when the publication and attached material are enclosed in a wrapper. No portion of the publication title may be obscured.

DMM 707.3.5.4 provides, in part, that a single sheet prepared as an attachment under 3.3.8c.may be securely attached along the bound edge on the outside of an unwrapped, bound publication if it does not exceed any dimension of the cover of the publication and comes within 3/4 inch of the edge opposite the fold or binding.

A single sheet attachment allowed under 3.3.8c without requiring the publication to be placed in a wrapper is customarily unfolded to create a two-page attachment.  The publisher of a bound Periodicals magazine wanted to attach a single sheet, which is folded once in the middle to create four (4) pages, along the bound edge of the front of a Periodicals publication without enclosing it in a mailing wrapper. When attached to the cover of the publication, the folded sheet, four page attachment does not exceed the dimensions of the publication and comes within ¾ inch of the edge opposite the fold or binding. The title of the publication is not obscured because the publisher has printed the title prominently on the first page of the 4-page attachment. Under these conditions, the attachment is permissible for mailing at the Periodicals rates and is not required to be placed in a mailing wrapper.

(Signed)
Sherry Suggs
Manager
Mailing Standards
United States Postal Service
Washington DC 20260-3436