Wednesday, June 19, 2013
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Picture Permit Imprint Indicia for Mailpieces

Wouldn't it be great if you could utilize the prime "real estate" on your mailpieces (where the postal indicia resides) to market your products and services? Well, now you can! The United States Postal Service® (USPS®) recently announced a new service offering called Picture Permit Imprint Indicia. This service allows mailers to place business-themed images, such as logos, trademarked brands, photos or other images into the permit imprint (indicia) area. This is a great opportunity to better utilize this precious space on your mailpieces to help bring additional attention to your brand.

Application Process

To take advantage of this new service offering, mailers must have an approved postal permit (Form 3615). Once you have your approved permit, there is an additional online registration process, which provides a link to the application form (3615-A) for Picture Permit Imprint. Once registered, mailers submit a PDF of their proposed indicia design to picturepermit@usps.gov. Once the design is approved, the USPS provides instructions for production of 500 test mailpieces including the approved indicia design. These test pieces are submitted to the USPS for testing and approval. This testing process takes 30 to 45 days. Once the approval process is complete, the USPS will ask for a mailing schedule, including dates and estimated volumes.

Eligibility

The new service offering is currently available to presorted First-Class® and Standard Mail® letters and cards, mailing with Intelligent Mail® Full Service. There is a small fee in addition to the normal postage price for use of Picture Permit Imprint Indicia, which is one cent per piece for First-Class letters and cards and two cents per piece for Standard Mail letters and cards.

Requirements for Mailers

There are some specific requirements for using this new service offering, including:
  • Each mailpiece must contain an Intelligent Mail barcode and the mailings must meet the requirements for Intelligent Mail Full Service as listed in DMM 705.24.

  • The text used within the indicia must meet the print reflectance difference requirements as listed in DMM 708.44. Text must be a minimum of 8 point type size and in an OCR readable font.
  • Indicia design and placement, including the picture permit imprint indicia color images, must meet the requirements as listed in DMM 604.5.
  • Only color images are permitted, no black and white images are allowed.

The USPS has provided a dedicated web page for this service offering, which includes the requirements document, registration instructions, indicia template, and a FAQ sheet.

Window Book encourages eligible mailers to take advantage of this great new opportunity to add even greater value to using the mail.

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