USPS has issued a nationwide date-stamp warning when sending time-sensitive letters, paying bills or even voting by post.
Unsuspecting Americans are at risk of being caught out by the postmark rule change and be financially penalized for missing urgent deadlines.
Although USPS is adamant it’s not changing its postmarking practices, it has admitted to making “transportation adjustments” that will hit customers sending time-sensitive items.
Last December – days before the start of the New Year – the postal service warned that the day people drop their mail in the mail box may no longer be the day that it will be officially processed.
Elena Patel, an economist, told CBS News that Americans need to be “more aware” of the logistics as a result.
The United States Postal Service‘s change could have a huge impact on people who pay bills, vote or file taxes by mail, the broadcaster warned.
‘MONSTER’
Pregnant woman killed after ‘trying to fight off robbery suspect on her doorstep’
SEARCH FOR ANSWERS
New details about ‘human’ mistake made before 67 died in DC plane crash
This type of post can be time-sensitive, meaning that people’s votes aren’t counted, or they risk failing to pay bills on time – and end up being fined.
“Anything that’s getting mailed to a government agency should be sent, hand-stamped – registered mail, return-receive requested,” advised Nina Tross, of the National Society of Tax Professionals.
POSTMARKING TIPS
- Send documents a few days earlier
- Go inside your local post office, and get the date stamped yourself at the counter with a manual postmark
“If a customer wants to ensure that their mail receives a postmark, and that the date on the postmark aligns with the date of mailing, the customer may take the mail to a Postal Service retail location and request a manual (local) postmark at the retail counter when tendering their mailpiece,” advised USPS.
“The manual postmark will be applied free of charge.”
The postmarking tweak is part of the agency’s decade-long plan to slash costs and restore profitability, said CBS.
It is also due to the greater use of tech.
USPS is chopping costs by concentrating mail processing work in larger hubs with new high-speed sorting machines, it added.
“All postal operators are basically trying to reimagine a business model that for the last 250 years has been pretty stable,” said Patel.
USPS advice on postmarked mail
“Customers who wish to obtain a postmark aligning with the date of mailing may request a manual (local) postmark at a retail location.
“[Those] who wish to retain a record or proof of the date on which the Postal Service first accepted possession of their mailpiece(s) may purchase a Certificate of Mailing.
“Registered Mail and Certified Mail services also provide mailing receipts for individual mailpieces.”
“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 the customer’s mailpiece was collected by a letter carrier or dropped off at a retail location.”
Source: USPS
