Requirements and Standards for Sending Domestic Mail

How do I mail something from my Local post office?

• To send domestic mail from a retail office, visit the retail counter for assistance.
• Drop mailable items that have proper postage affixed in a USPS drop box located inside the office, if available, or outside in a blue USPS collection box.
  • For tips on proper address formatting and how to prepare items for mailing see Addressing Mailpieces for additional information.

How can my retail office help with domestic mailing?

• USPS Retail offices offer a variety of features and services that can assist with mailing letters, flats and packages including:
  
  • Selling shipping supplies (where available)
  • Selling postage in any denomination
  • Selling Extra Services to support mailing needs, such as Certificate of Mailing
  • Providing USPS^® mailing information
  • Weighing and classifying postage of envelopes and parcels
  • Mailing confirmation services
  • Providing receipts for purchases
  • Applying a manual (local) postmark upon request

How can I get an acceptance scan for multiple mailpieces at retail?

• If you would like an acceptance scan to indicate when your items (sent using Click-N-Ship^® postage) entered the mailstream, you can use a Shipment Confirmation Acceptance Notice (SCAN) Form (PS Form 5630).

• • The SCAN Form features a master barcode that represents all the packages in a shipment; it is scanned when the shipment is received by the Postal Service^®. This single scan enters all of the associated packages into the Postal Service USPS Tracking^® database as "Shipment Accepted" and allows both the sender and the recipient to see when the package entered the mailstream.
  • All Click-N-Ship transactions with two or more labels will automatically receive a SCAN Form which can be printed from the Payment Confirmation Page.
  • For more information on SCAN forms please see Click-N-Ship® - The Basics.
    
  • Sample image of SCAN Form: PS Form 5630 SCAN Form

What is a Postmark?

A postmark is a marking applied by the Postal Service™ to a mailpiece (letter, flat or package). A postmark displays the following:

• The name or location (city and state) of the processing facility or retail unit that applied the postmark 
• The date of the first automated processing operation performed on that mailpiece, if the postmark was applied at a processing facility
• The date it was accepted at a retail unit, if the postmark was applied at retail 
• Cancellation markings, where necessary, to cancel postage so that it may not be reused, which will typically be seen as lines or bars printed over the postage. 

How do I get a Postmark?

Postmarks are generally applied by the Postal Service via automation on machines in processing facilities or manually applied by employees at those facilities. Postmarks may also be applied manually by employees at a retail unit upon request from the customer.

While we are not changing our postmarking practices, we have made adjustments to our transportation operations that will result in some mailpieces not arriving at our originating processing facilities on the same day that they are mailed. This means that the date on the postmarks applied at our processing facilities will not necessarily match the date on which your mailpiece was collected by a letter carrier, dropped off at a retail location, or placed in a collection box.

The Postal Service does not postmark every piece of mail in the normal course of operations. For example, Marketing Mail, Presort First-Class Mail, and metered mail presented to the Postal Service in trays will bypass originating processing operations, including machine cancellation. While the Postal Service intends to postmark letters and flats that are entered as Single-Piece First-Class Mail and processed on automated cancellation machines, there are circumstances when mail will not receive a postmark, including where a mailpiece is stuck to another mailpiece when it runs through the cancelling machine, or where the machine runs out of ink or smears when applying postmarks.

Note: If you want to ensure that your mail receives a postmark and that the date on the postmark aligns with the date of mailing, you can go to any USPS retail counter and request a postal employee to manually postmark, or "hand-cancel", up to 50 items for free. If you need to have more than 50 items hand-canceled, please contact the local Postmaster or other manager in advance to ensure adequate resources are available to assist. 

Why did the Postal Service change how it postmarks mail?

The Postal Service has not changed and is not changing our postmarking practices, which have been consistent since we began moving away from hand-canceling every item at Post Offices decades ago. Postmarks will continue to be applied at processing facilities in the same manner and to the same extent as before, and will continue to contain the name or location of the facility that applied the postmark and the date on which the first automated processing operation was performed on that mailpiece.

While we are not changing our postmarking practices, we have made adjustments to our transportation operations that will result in some mailpieces not arriving at our originating processing facilities on the same day that they are mailed. This means that the date on the postmarks applied at our processing facilties may not necessarily match the date on which the mailpiece was collected by a letter carrier or dropped off at a retail location, including via a collection box.

In the past, wasn't all mail postmarked on the day it was mailed?

No. The Postal Service accepts possession of a mailpiece under a variety of circumstances - for example, when a letter carrier collects a mailpiece from a mailbox or collection box or when a postal retail associate accepts a mailpiece from a customer at a retail location. There is even more variation in terms of when customers consider their envelopes "mailed" - e.g., when they put the envelope in a collection box (regardless of when the Postal Service picks it up) or when they put it in their office's mailroom, etc. Because we found there to be public misconceptions around the practice and timing of postmarks even before our network modernization, we wanted to ensure better understanding of postmarks overall, and to inform the public that it is becoming more common that the date on a postmark may not match the day an item was mailed.

Other Services for Proof of Mailing:

USPS also offers other services that can provide evidence of mailing such as:

• Certificate of Mailing 
• Certified Mail
• Registered Mail

For additional information, pricing and fees for these and other domestic mail extra services, please see What Domestic Mail Extra Services are Available? 

How do I use a USPS collection box to send Domestic mail?

• USPS collection boxes are typically blue, freestanding mail receptacle units, located at post offices and other strategic locations where customers can deposit outgoing mail that has postage already applied.
• You can deposit any number of approved mailpieces in a collection box for free, taking note of posted pickup times to ensure timely processing and delivery.
• Use the USPS locator tool on USPS.com to locate a collection box near you
• For additional information on USPS collection boxes including what types of mail can be sent, pick up times, and types of collection boxes please see What is a Collection Box? 

How can I send mail from my home or business address?

• Approved items, prepared for mailing with proper postage affixed, may be placed in your mailbox with the flag up for carrier pick up. Please note that carriers do not pick up mail from locations where they do not have deliveries for that day.
• If you use a community mailbox, you may drop approved items in the outgoing mail slot of a community mailbox for carrier pickup, if the box contains an outgoing mail slot. 
• Alternatively, you may simply hand approved items to a letter carrier for pick up at their discretion.
• For additional information and guidelines on mail pick up please see Outgoing Mail Pickup

How can I mail a package through my outgoing mail?

You may schedule a free Package Pickup online, if your address is eligible. You can also schedule a pickup at a specific time with our Pickup On Demand premium paid service (available in the Package Pickup tool), for a fee. Please see Package Pickup & Pickup on Demand^® for additional information on these services.