postalref

Bulk Proof of Delivery Program

The Bulk Proof of Delivery Program is a USPS program that gives mailers signature proof of delivery records for their mailpieces without a request for each one. Mailers use it to keep signature records longer than USPS keeps them and to handle them more efficiently.

Updated October 31, 202620 sources

What it is

Proof of delivery is USPS's record of a delivery: its date and time, and the recipient's name, address and signature. Mailers who print their own barcoded labels can get these records electronically in bulk through the program, which USPS calls BPOD.

The program replaces two steps a mailer would take for each piece: requesting its proof of delivery record, or placing PS Form 3811, the Domestic Return Receipt, on it.

Without the program, mailers of Express Mail, Signature Confirmation and Adult Signature pieces request each record as a letter by email, fax or mail. They ask through Track & Confirm on usps.com or at 800-222-1811. Mailers of other extra services, such as Certified Mail, get signed records by buying Electronic Return Receipt.

Who can use it

The program is open to mailers who use any of these:

  • Adult Signature Required or Adult Signature Restricted Delivery.
  • The Express Mail Manifesting program.
  • The electronic option of Signature Confirmation.
  • Electronic Return Receipt with Certified Mail, Registered Mail, insured mail over $200, Collect on Delivery or Signature Confirmation, on labels with their Mailer ID.
  • The same services on labels with the Mailer ID of a third-party designee, a consolidator or vendor.

Bulk proof of delivery is available with both adult signature services. For Collect on Delivery mail, the program is open only to mailers who buy Electronic Return Receipt at the time of mailing.

The extra service codes for the signature services and for Electronic Return Receipt.

Extra Service Codes, Pub 199 Appendix J Table 7
CodeExtra service
921Signature Confirmation
922Adult Signature Required 21 or Over
923Adult Signature Restricted Delivery 21 or Over
957Return Receipt Electronic

4 codes in the Extra Service Codes, Pub 199 Appendix J Table 7, where Code is 921 or 922 or 923 or 957.

How it works

A mailer's pieces take part when its Mailer ID, the number a business puts in its barcodes, is in the label or the Shipping Services file. A designee's file carries the client's Mailer ID in Detail Record 1. That field is the Mail Owner Mailer ID, the same field as the Client Mailer ID in Shipping Services File versions 1.3 and 1.4.

  1. The mailer buys a signature service, or Electronic Return Receipt at the time of mailing.
  2. Its labels or Shipping Services file carry its Mailer ID or its designee's.
  3. USPS keeps a record of each delivery, with the recipient's signature.
  4. USPS sends the records on CD-ROM or in a signature extract file.
  5. The mailer opens its encrypted PDF files with its key code.

Online enrollment for a Certified Mail shipping program includes a BPOD Agreement step.

Receiving the records

Mailers get the records on CD-ROM or as a signature extract file over SFTP or FTP, and USPS prefers SFTP. USPS makes CD-ROMs twice a month, on the first and the fifteenth. The signature extract file comes out weekly.

USPS encrypts every PDF file with 128-bit RC4 and gives the mailer, or its approved third-party designee, a key code to open it. Viewing, searching and printing the files takes Acrobat Adobe Reader 7 or higher. For adult signature pieces, the record holds the date, the time, the recipient's first initial and last name, and the signature.

A mailer picks one connectivity option for sending and receiving files, and only that one works after certification. The options are SFTP, EDIINT AS2 and Parcel Data Exchange.

Rules

The mailer’s Mailer ID (or the Mailer ID of a registered third-party with whom the mailer is working) must be used in the barcoded label or be placed in a Shipping Services file to participate.

A mailer must put its own Mailer ID, or its registered third party's, in the barcoded label or the Shipping Services file to take part.

Mailers who use labels procured from a Postal Service retail location (i.e., labels that do not contain the mailer’s or third-party designee’s Mailer ID number) cannot participate in the bulk proof of delivery program.

Labels bought at a Post Office carry no mailer's Mailer ID, so mailers who use them cannot join the program.

In these instances, the third-party designee must submit an electronic file with the client’s Mailer ID number placed in the Client Mailer ID field of Detail Record 1.

When the label carries a consolidator's or vendor's Mailer ID, that designee must send an electronic file with the client's Mailer ID in Detail Record 1.

USPS Ship mailers are required to utilize a secure file transfer method when transmitting manifest files to the Postal Service and when retrieving Bulk Proof of Delivery (BPOD) signature information.

USPS Ship mailers must use a secure file transfer method to get their BPOD signature files, as they must to send manifests.

A mailer must use its key code to access its encrypted PDF files.

USPS encrypts the PDF files, and a mailer must open them with the key code USPS gives it.

What goes wrong

A piece with no electronic return receipt marked gets no proof of delivery record, and the Confirmation/Error/Warning file says so. That file is USPS's report of problems in a Shipping Services file.

A piece whose special service code 06 carries a fee below $1.00 gets no proof of delivery records. A wrong electronic return receipt fee rejects the record, and the mailer can resubmit it with the right fee.

Electronic Return Receipt can't be added after mailing. Return receipt with Signature Confirmation is hardcopy PS Form 3811 only. So is return receipt with Adult Signature Required. Return receipt on insurance over $500 is hardcopy PS Form 3811 only too.

What the sources leave out

The sources don't give the program's fee or how long USPS keeps signature records.

Terms

Proof of DeliveryPOD
Customers can also receive proof of delivery including date and time of delivery as well as name, address and signature of the recipient, electronically in bulk by participating in the Bulk Proof of Delivery (BPOD) program
Electronic Return ReceiptReturn Receipt (Electronic)
does everything the hardcopy Return Receipt does but is electronic.
PS Form 3811green card, Domestic Return Receipt, Return Receipt (Form 3811)
To obtain a hardcopy return receipt by mail, the associated mailpiece must bear a green barcoded PS Form 3811, Domestic Return Receipt, as shown below using the IMpb format.
Adult Signature
A Competitive Ancillary Service that requires the recipient of the mailpiece to be 21 years of age or older. The service has two options: (a) Adult Signature Required, in which anyone 21 years of age or older at the delivery address may sign for the mailpiece; and (b) Adult Signature Restricted Delivery, which requires the signature of the addressee or an authorized agent of the addressee, either of which is 21 years of age or older.
Adult Signature Required
Adult Signature Required requires the signature of anyone 21 years of age or older.
Adult Signature Restricted DeliveryASRD, RAS, Restricted Adult Signature
requires the signature of the addressee or designee, 21 years of age or older.
Signature ConfirmationSignature Confirmation service
provides the mailer with information about the date and time an article was delivered and, if delivery was attempted but not successful, the date and time of the delivery attempt.
Certified MailCertified Mail service
an extra service that provides the sender with a mailing receipt, tracking history, and, upon request, electronic verification that a mail piece was delivered or that a delivery attempt was made.
Collect on DeliveryCOD
A Special Service for mailers who need to mail an article for which they have not received payment from the addressee. The amount due the mailer sending the article is collected from the addressee either in cash or by a personal check, and USPS returns the amount due to the mailer. The fee for mailing COD articles is in addition to postage.
Mailer IdentifierMID, 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.
Shipping Services FileSSF, Shipping Service Files
The electronic file containing all manifest and payment information.
Confirmation/Error/WarningCEW, confirmation/error/warning file, Confirmation Error Warning (CEW) Report, PTR Confirmation Error/Warning Report
The confirmation/error/warning file identifies issues associated within the Shipping Services File record.

Documents

Applications/Forms

The Bulk Proof of Delivery Supplement to Publication 199 moved to postalpro.usps.com/pub199.

Contacts

For individual proof of delivery records, use Track & Confirm on usps.com, or call 800-222-1811. To change a file transmission method, call the USPS Confirmation Services Support Team at 877-264-9693. To set up SFTP, email DELIVERY.CONFIRMATION@usps.gov.

Sources