Calling all postage meter experts.

June 27, 2007 11:32 PM

A postage meter was moved from a branch office in California to an office in Vermont. The machine has yet to be updated. Specifically, it still prints "sent from 90210" instead of "sent from 05602." Will the post office in Vermont return the metered mail because of this zip code discrepancy?
posted by who squared to technology (6 comments total)

When I print postage online at USPS.com and forget to set the correct "sent from" zip code, the good folks at the postal service have never sent stuff back to me because of that.
posted by roomwithaview at 11:35 PM on June 27, 2007

I've done the same thing roomwithaview has, and I also never got stuff returned ... but why don't you just call, or better yet go down in person, to the local Post Office and ask someone there? (Do it when they're not busy so they won't try to just get rid of you ASAP.)

Postage is postage -- you've paid for what's in the meter, so I'd think you'd be allowed to use it, but I'm not sure what the regulations are in this area.

You could send a few test pieces to be sure, but if you want to send out a whole lot of stuff that you don't want to worry about being returned, I'd ask and see what they say. (Might help if you are sure to have a correct return address on the letters, too, so it doesn't look like you're trying to be sneaky or something. Post-9/11-anthrax, the Post Office seems to be more aggressive about "encouraging" you to use a return address -- I once had a clerk refuse to mail something without it.)

Of course, that's ignoring the fact that the anthrax letters had return addresses on them ...
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:43 PM on June 27, 2007

The Domestic Mail Manual says it is allowed if it is only single-piece rate First-Class Mail. Of course, you might still be violating an agreement with your meter provider.

4.5.3 Deposit of Mail

Mailers must deposit or enter mailpieces with metered or PC Postage indicia according to the following conditions.

a. Mailers may deposit Express Mail, Priority Mail, single-piece rate First-Class Mail, single-piece rate Media Mail, and single-piece rate Library Mail items with metered or PC Postage indicia at any postal facility, preferably within the area of the customer's local post office.

b. Mailers must deposit all mail not specified in 4.5.3a as follows:

1. At a postal facility within the ZIP Code shown in the indicia.

2. For Presort rate mail, at the authorized mailing office if not at a facility within the ZIP Code shown in the indicia.

c. Mailers also may dropship metered mail according to standards in 705.18.0.

posted by grouse at 4:00 AM on June 28, 2007

Of course, if someone at the Post Office got picky, they could probably nail you for mail fraud if they really wanted to.

But if you're not shipping hash or doing something else equally stupid, the postal inspectors probably don't care about you.
posted by SlyBevel at 6:25 PM on June 28, 2007

Thanks everyone.
posted by who squared at 8:59 PM on June 28, 2007

When the repairman came to fix our postage meter at work, the zip code accidentally got changed to something random. I still got my pay stub in the mail!
posted by radioamy at 11:28 AM on June 29, 2007