Effective July 9, 2023, the Postal Service™ will revise Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®), in various sections, to reflect a change in handling mail items bearing counterfeit postage.
To distinguish handling mail articles without postage under section 604.8.2 from those that contain counterfeit postage, the Postal Service is revising section 604.8.4 to state that mail articles with counterfeit postage will be considered abandoned and disposed of at the discretion of the Postal Service. These items will no longer be returned to the sender. The Postal Service believes that affixing counterfeit postage reflects a refusal to pay postage or an intentional effort to avoid paying postage. For clarity, the Postal Service will also revise various other sections related to the revisions in section 604.8.4.
Although the Postal Service will not publish these revisions in the DMM until July 9, 2023, the standards will be effective May 7, 2023.