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Business accounts: BCG, CRID and Mailer ID

A business opens a USPS business account on the Business Customer Gateway or the Business Portal, which assign it a Customer Registration ID, or CRID, and a Mailer ID. Each CRID identifies one business location and owns its Mailer IDs. A Business Service Administrator at the location decides who may use each of its services.

Updated November 5, 202668 sources

Questions

How do I set up a USPS business account?

A business sets up its account online, in the Business Portal or by signing up on the Business Customer Gateway. Either way, USPS assigns the business location a CRID and a Mailer ID when the account is created. A Business Portal account also gets an Enterprise Payment Account for paying USPS, which USPS Ship and the USPS APIs need: Business Portal.

What is the difference between a USPS business account and a personal account?

A personal account is for services for the home, such as ordering stamps or mailing a package, and a business account is for a business of any size. Neither can be changed into the other: a business with a personal account creates a new account as Business. The Business Customer Gateway takes only a business account, and the Business Portal sends a personal account back to USPS.com.

How much does a USPS business account cost?

Registering for a Business Customer Gateway account is free: the registration link reads Register for Free. A PO Box run through the account still has a fee, which Enterprise Post Office Boxes Online renews automatically.

How do I find my USPS CRID number?

A business sees its CRID when it logs in to its Business Customer Gateway account page. Mail service providers, which mail for other businesses, look up a client's CRID from its Mailer ID or permit in the Customer Validation Tool: CRID.

How do I find my USPS Mailer ID?

The Mailer ID tool in the Business Customer Gateway lists the Mailer IDs that belong to each CRID a user can reach. Its MID Search finds a Mailer ID assigned to any CRID the user is linked to. A Business Customer Gateway account gets its first Mailer ID automatically when it is created: Mailer ID.

How do I add a user to a USPS Business Customer Gateway account?

The new user signs up for a Business Customer Gateway account of their own, selects Company Identifier and enters the location's CRID. The location's Business Service Administrator then grants that user access to its services. Signing up without the CRID gives the user a new CRID instead: CRID.

How do I get a USPS PO Box online?

A customer can apply and pay for a PO Box online with PS Form 1093, then take an unsigned printout to the Post Office. There each adult listed shows two forms of ID, and on approval the applicant gets the box number and keys or lock combination. A business can also reserve boxes in Enterprise Post Office Boxes Online, which needs a Business Customer Gateway account and an Enterprise Payment Account.

Can I renew my USPS PO Box online?

Yes: a PO Box linked to Enterprise Post Office Boxes Online renews automatically on the 15th of the month its fee is due. Paper fee-due notices then stop, though one printed before the link may still arrive. The payment status that Enterprise Post Office Boxes Online shows is current, since it shares one system of record with Post Offices. It sends no renewal notices by email; its reporting shows each box's renewal date.

How do I cancel a USPS PO Box online?

A business closes a PO Box in Enterprise Post Office Boxes Online by entering the box number and ZIP Code. Any refund goes back to the original payment method. A box linked there can only be closed there, not at a Post Office: Enterprise Post Office Boxes Online.

How it fits together

The Business Customer Gateway is USPS's single entry point for its online business services, such as Mailer IDs and mailing reports. A business can also create its account in the Business Portal, which is focused on simplifying onboarding and account management for package shippers. Enrolling in USPS Ship or Click-N-Ship there also enrolls the user in the Business Customer Gateway services those need.

Creating the account gives the business location a CRID, a number USPS creates for each pair of company name and physical address. The location's Mailer IDs, the numbers that identify a mailer in its barcodes, each belong to one CRID at a time. A business gets more Mailer IDs, and finds the ones it has, in the Business Customer Gateway's Mailer ID tool.

Each person uses the account through a Business Customer Gateway login of their own, with a user level for each CRID. A Business Service Administrator, or BSA, manages each service for a CRID and grants other users access to it. The Enterprise Payment System, USPS's system for paying for postage and other products from one account, adds user roles of its own. Data delegation, a feature of mail tracking, shares one CRID's data with other CRIDs and organizations.

Enterprise Post Office Boxes Online, or ePOBOL, opens, closes and pays for a business's PO Boxes, Caller Services and Reserves online. Caller Service is a delivery service at a Post Office, for a fee, for customers with large volumes of mail. A Reserve holds caller numbers for a Caller Service customer's future use. Each box ePOBOL manages links to a business location by its CRID. ePOBOL needs a Business Customer Gateway account and an Enterprise Payment Account.

Opening an account

Registering on the Business Customer Gateway gives a new business customer a CRID and a Mailer ID. USPS assigns the CRID to the pair of company name and address the user enters. A user who enters a known CRID instead joins that business location. Registration also enrolls the user in popular business services automatically.

The first user to request a service for a business location is generally made its BSA, in charge of who may use it. That role can move to someone else later.

The Business Portal checks the user's email, then registers the user and the business together. It proofs the company's identity automatically and assigns a CRID. Its account overview then generates an outbound and a returns Mailer ID. Setting up payment adds an Enterprise Payment Account, which USPS APIs, USPS Ship and Click-N-Ship need along with the CRID and Mailer ID. Enrolling in USPS Ship or the USPS APIs from the portal creates two outbound Mailer IDs and one returns Mailer ID.

CRIDs and Mailer IDs

A CRID is a USPS-generated number of up to 15 digits that identifies a business at one location. It connects that location's information across USPS systems. A business with more than one physical address may have a CRID for each. Only one CRID should be granted to an address.

A Mailer ID is a 6-digit or 9-digit number that USPS assigns by annual mail volume. It goes to a mail owner, the business that decides on and pays for a mailing, or to a mail service provider. It identifies the mailer in Intelligent Mail barcodes. It also names the mail owner and preparer in eDoc, the electronic postage statement. Each Mailer ID belongs to one CRID at a time, as each mailing permit does.

A shipper that enrolls in a shipping program on the Business Customer Gateway first gets one 9-digit master Mailer ID. In USPS Ship, the first outbound Mailer ID is the master, or manifest, Mailer ID for payment authorizations. Premium Forwarding Service Commercial asks for both a master and a partner Mailer ID. The master goes on the manifest and ties to the postage payment account, and the partner goes in the package label's barcode. Where the CRID has more than one Mailer ID, the partner must differ from the master.

A JACKPOT CRID/MID is one CRID and Mailer ID that a mail service provider uses to identify its small mail owners. A provider may ask for one when its mailings include owners with fewer than 5,000 pieces each and it meets 90% Full-Service of eligible volume.

Partner MID

“The Partner MID is either a 9-digit or a 6-digit numeric code used in the barcode of the package label and will not impact the operation of the PFSC forwarding.”

Master MID

Also called Master Mailer Identification, Master/Manifest MID

“The Master MID is either a 9-digit or a 6-digit numeric code used on the manifest and tied to the postage payment account.”

Customer Registration ID

Also called CRID, Customer Registration Identification Number, Customer Registration Identifier, Customer Identifier, Customer Reference ID, Customer Registration Identifications

“a USPS-generated numeric code of up to 15 digits that uniquely identifies a business at a specific location”

Mailer Identifier

Also called MID, Mailer IDs, Mailer Identification, Mailer Identification Number, USPS Mailer ID

“MID is a unique 6- or 9-digit number that identifies the mailer or the mailer’s client.”

Getting and finding the numbers

A business that already has an account gets more Mailer IDs from the Mailer ID tool on the Business Customer Gateway. The user picks one of their CRIDs, then requests a Mailer ID for it or shows its Mailer ID Summary. The tool's MID Search finds a Mailer ID on any CRID the user is linked to.

Annual mail volume sets how many Mailer IDs a business can get. A business that can't get enough Mailer IDs from the tool, or one of the length it needs, uses the Mailer ID Application instead. It sends the application to a Business Mail Entry Unit, the area of a postal facility that accepts bulk mail, or a Mailpiece Design Analyst. A Mailpiece Design Analyst is USPS's primary contact for mailers seeking technical information on mailpiece design.

The MID/CRID Request Service lets a mail service provider request CRIDs and 9-digit Mailer IDs for itself or its customers. The Customer Validation Tool finds the CRID and business address behind a client's Mailer ID or permit. Finding a client's existing CRID this way keeps the provider from creating another one. Both work only when the provider's account profile is marked as a mail service provider.

Mailer ID Application

“a method for a Mailer to obtain an additional MID which is beyond the authorized assignment through the Business Customer Gateway Mailer ID system”

Request a MID

“Allows a user to request a MID for the affiliate displayed in the drop down box.”

MID Search

“This function allows users to search for a MID that is assigned to any of the affiliates (CRIDs) to which the user is linked.”

Mailer ID Summary

“Summary section displays the MIDs for the selected affiliate as well as the address of the affiliate and the Add/Edit Profile link.”

Mailer ID Tool

Also called Mailer ID system, MID system, MID tool, Business Customer Gateway Mailer ID system, Mailer ID service

“The Mailer ID tool is the application on the Business Customer Gateway used by customers to obtain MIDs”

MID/CRID Request Service

Also called MID/CRID Request Service (BCG), Mail Service Provider MID/CRID Request Service, MID/CRID Lookup tool

“MSPs can request CRIDs and/or MIDs for themselves or on their customer’s behalf”

Customer Validation Tool

Also called Validate Customer Information

“allows customers to validate client information through the manage profile section of the Business Customer Gateway (BCG).”

Users and administrators

The Business Customer Gateway's tools are called business services, and each service a CRID adds gets its own BSA. The BSA manages that service for the CRID, grants other users access and does its administrative tasks. The first user to request a service for a CRID is generally made its BSA.

A BSA can make other users BSA Delegates. In the Business Customer Gateway, a delegate can do everything a BSA can except change who the BSA is. Other services, such as the Enterprise Payment System, may keep some tasks from delegates. A CRID can have any number of BSA Delegates. A general user, who has non-administrative access to a CRID, can't use its business services until the BSA or a BSA Delegate approves them.

A user's level for a CRID is set by that CRID's BSA, and the BSA or a BSA Delegate can change it at any time. Levels are per CRID, so one person can be a service's BSA on one CRID and a general user on another. A user who already has a gateway account adds another location's CRID to their profile under Manage Account, with Add A Location. That location's BSA approves the request and sets the user's access level.

A BSA or BSA Delegate changes a user's access to a service under Manage Account, then Manage Users. Each service shows Get Access to a user without access and Go to Service to one with it. When Get Access changes to Pending BSA, the user needs to ask that service's BSA to approve the request.

Some services add a second step: a user given the Enterprise Payment System in the Business Customer Gateway also needs a role inside it. Its Subscriber role gives read-only access to reports. Any role on an Enterprise Payment Account shows all of that account's transactions, not only the ones the user took part in. A mail service provider reaches a mail owner's Enterprise Payment Account through the same two steps. It then sees every transaction in the account's reports, even those other providers made.

For USPS APIs and shipping software, MID authorization gives label providers and consolidators label generation, rates and tracking for chosen Mailer IDs.

Must
Organizations are responsible for keeping track of their BSAs and notifying the Postal Service when a BSA needs to be changed (especially when a BSA departs an organization).

An organization must keep track of its own BSAs. It must tell USPS when a BSA needs to change, above all when a BSA leaves the organization.

General User

“User who has regular, non-administrative access for CRID. Cannot access a CRID’s business services until approved by the BSA or BSA Delegate.”

super users

“administrative-level users who can complete tasks unavailable to general users”

Business Services

“Tools that can help you to make better use of all that the Postal Service has to offer.”

Business Service Administrator

Also called BSA, Business Services Administrator, Business Server Administrator, Business Systems Administrator

“The BSA is in charge of all account administration for its CRID, including managing the services it has access to and the users associated with it.”

BSA Delegate

“User who has been granted BSA powers for CRID, but is not the actual BSA.”

PO Boxes and Caller Service

A PO Box is a locked box in a Post Office lobby or another authorized place that customers and businesses rent for their mail. Caller Service also serves customers who need a PO Box number address when no PO Boxes are available. Applying for a Reserve needs an active Caller Service in the same ZIP Code.

Where a Post Office offers Competitive PO Box service, a box customer can use the Post Office's street address as its mailing address. Competitive PO Box service is for customers in the service area of a competing mailbox provider. The customer signs a customer agreement, then writes the box number after #, as in 123 Main Street #4567. With the street address, the box can also receive private carriers' packages that meet USPS's mailability standards.

ePOBOL manages a business's PO Boxes, Caller Services and Reserves in one place online. A Caller Service can only be issued through ePOBOL. Since July 1, 2023, a customer without an Enterprise Payment Account can't apply for or renew a Caller Service or Reserve at a retail counter.

ePOBOL's Transaction History Report holds the payment history of every box it manages. The Enterprise Payment System's PO Box Services Spending Summary breaks that spending down by ePOBOL product.

Post Office Box

Also called PO Box

“A locked box, located in a Post Office lobby or other authorized place that customers and businesses may rent for delivery of their mail.”

Caller Service

“Caller Service provides a means for receiving mail, and enables an eligible customer to have properly addressed mail delivered through a call window or loading dock.”

Transaction History Report

“contains detailed payment transaction history for all PO Boxes, Caller Services and Reserves”

PO Box Services Spending Summary

“This view provides the spending history breakdown for each ePOBOL Product (PO Box, Callers Services, Reserve, Misc. Fees).”

What goes wrong

Each new Business Customer Gateway account gets a new CRID unless the user selects Company Identifier during sign-up. Customers often open new accounts when employees join or leadership changes: CRID.

In the Business Portal, an existing CRID at the entered address means the company is already registered with USPS. Using that CRID may need the company's BSA. Choosing the entered address instead creates a new CRID and Mailer ID: Business Portal.

A new CRID or Mailer ID can't be used until 48 hours after Business Customer Gateway activation. Using one sooner in eDoc may generate electronic verification errors: Mailer ID.

An organization is liable for any losses when USPS isn't told that a BSA has changed. A BSA who no longer wants the role contacts the PostalOne! Help Desk and names another user to take it over.

When the first user to request a service declined automatic BSA status, the request may stay pending until a BSA is chosen: Business Customer Gateway.

Logging in to the Business Portal with USPS.com personal account credentials shows a You have a USPS.com Personal Account message. The portal then sends the customer to USPS.com: Business Portal.

Closing an active PO Box without a Change of Address sends its mail back to the sender: Enterprise Post Office Boxes Online.

Index: 38 entries

Service (1)

Systems (13)

Files (9)

Identifiers (4)

Roles (7)

Terms (4)

Sources