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Full-Service Assessments

A Full-Service assessment is the postage USPS bills a mailer when its Full-Service errors for a calendar month exceed an error threshold. It removes the Full-Service discount from the pieces in error above the threshold. The eDoc submitter pays it or requests a review.

Updated October 31, 202636 sources

What it is

Full-Service is one of USPS's two options for automation discounts. It combines unique barcodes on each container, tray and mailpiece with electronic postage statements and documentation. Mailers take the Full-Service discount when they mail, and USPS verifies their eDoc after the postage statement is finalized. An assessment removes the discount from the pieces in error above the thresholds.

First-Class Mail, Periodicals and USPS Marketing Mail letters and flats at automation or carrier route prices can earn Full-Service incentives. So can Bound Printed Matter presorted or carrier route barcoded flats. USPS began assessments for electronic verification metrics in November 2016, with October data.

The assessment goes to the eDoc submitter, the mailer who submitted the electronic documentation for the mailing. USPS adds up its assessments by the submitter's Customer Registration ID, a unique number that identifies a specific business location. Error data and estimated assessment amounts show on the Mailer Scorecard for eDoc submitters, mail preparers and mail owners.

How it works

Each month's mailings are verified after acceptance, and the assessment for them arrives on the 11th of the following month.

  1. The mailer applies unique barcodes and uploads its eDoc to PostalOne!.
  2. An acceptance employee finalizes the electronic postage statement when the mailing is presented.
  3. USPS verifies the finalized eDoc against the standards for a Full-Service mailing.
  4. The results reach the Mailer Scorecard 48 hours after the statement is finalized.
  5. At the end of the month, USPS totals the results to judge mail quality.
  6. On the 10th of the following month, USPS locks the scorecard data and the postage due.
  7. On the 11th, the Mail Entry Postage Assessment report opens in the Business Customer Gateway.
  8. USPS emails the mailer about any additional postage due, or that none is due.
  9. The eDoc submitter pays or requests a review within 10 business days after the 11th.

Verifications and thresholds

To claim the Full-Service discount, a mailing meets each of these requirements. Errors on each one count against their own error threshold. The results show on the Electronic Verification tab of the Mailer Scorecard.

VerificationWhat it checksError threshold
Mailer IDThe container, handling unit and piece barcodes carry a valid Mailer ID.2% for each level
Service Type IDThe IMb carries the right Service Type ID for the piece's class and service level.2%
By/ForThe eDoc identifies the mail owner and the mail preparer accurately.5%
Barcode UniquenessNo container, handling unit or piece barcode repeats any mailer's barcode within 45 days.2% for each level
Entry FacilityEvery container and orphan handling unit names its entry location.2% for each level
Unlinked CopalThe consolidator links each tray or sack meant for a co-palletized mailing to its container within 14 days.5%

USPS sets the thresholds through a periodic statistical analysis of quality for all mailings in a period. Each threshold is at least one standard deviation from the mean of the error rates of all eDoc submitter CRIDs.

How the assessment is calculated

An error percentage compares like with like: containers with containers, handling units with handling units, pieces with pieces. For a piece error, it is the Full-Service pieces with that error divided by all Full-Service pieces in the eDoc.

Errors become eligible for assessment when the pieces in error for one metric exceed the threshold. Only the pieces over the threshold are assessed, and each is charged the Full-Service discount it claimed. Notice 123, the price list, defines that discount.

A container or handling unit over the threshold puts every Full-Service piece in it up for assessment. For a logical container or handling unit, one physical container over the threshold puts all of its pieces up for assessment. A piece loses the Full-Service discount only once, even when it is in error for several error types.

No additional postage is assessed when the postage due is less than $500 across Full-Service, eInduction and Seamless or Automated Verifications.

USPS's example mailer sends First-Class Mail letters in 800 Full-Service containers, with a Full-Service discount of $.003 a piece. Its only errors over a threshold are Mailer ID container errors.

  1. Dividing the 45 containers with Mailer ID errors by the 800 containers gives an error percentage of 5.63%.
  2. Subtracting 2.00% of the 800 containers from the 45 leaves 29 containers over the threshold.
  3. The Full-Service pieces nested in those containers number 523,000.
  4. The 523,000 pieces times the $.003 discount make an assessment of $1,569.00.

Paying and reviewing

USPS sends assessment emails to the users with the Verification Assessment Evaluator service, which controls access to assessment reports. When a mailer has no such user, USPS emails the Business Service Administrator of the first of these services it finds:

  1. The Verification Assessment Evaluator service.
  2. The Manage Mailing Activity service.
  3. Audit Mailing Activity, eVS, Package Return Service or Scan Based Payment.

Mail owners link a payment permit to their CRID to receive assessment notices. They get one only when the eDoc submitter pays with their permit.

An assessment shows Pending Action until the eDoc submitter pays or requests a review. Payment can come from any permit with a positive balance that the submitter used in the mailing month. That lets the submitter pass the postage due to mail owners. A paid assessment shows Paid and needs nothing more.

A review can cover the entire postage due, one error metric or an error count, and sets the status to Pending Review. A Business Mail Entry acceptance employee investigates, and a Business Acceptance Performance Reconciliation Specialist oversees the review. The reviewer contacts the mailer within 5 business days. USPS has until the end of the second calendar month after the assessment month to finish.

A review ends in a closed assessment with nothing to pay, or an adjusted one in Payment Due status. The mailer can then appeal to the Pricing and Classification Service Center. After an appeal, the mailer has 10 days to pay any balance.

Rules

Only pieces over an error threshold are eligible for assessment and the assessment is equal to the Full-Service discount claimed on the piece eligible for assessment.

USPS assesses only the pieces above the threshold, not every piece in error. Each assessed piece is charged the Full-Service discount it claimed.

When a container or handling unit exceeds an error threshold, all Full-Service mailpieces in the container or handling unit are eligible for assessment.

An error on a container or tray reaches the pieces inside it. Every Full-Service piece in a container or handling unit over the threshold is eligible for assessment.

Mailpieces may only lose the Full-Service discount once even if they are eligible for assessment in multiple error types.

A piece may lose its Full-Service discount only once, however many error types it fails.

It is a requirement of Full-Service to keep barcodes unique for 45 days across all mailers and mailings on containers, handling units, and pieces.

Every container, handling unit and piece barcode in a Full-Service mailing must stay unique across all mailers and mailings for 45 days.

Mailers must pay the full amount due for each program at one time.

A mailer must pay each program's assessment in one payment, not in parts.

If a review is requested, the entire assessment is placed in a pending review status and no further action can be taken by the eDoc Submitter until resolution.

A review request puts the whole assessment on hold, and the eDoc submitter can take no further action on it until the review ends.

Assessments with a balance remaining after review are updated to “Payment Due” status and payment is required within 3 business days.

When a balance remains after a review, the mailer must pay it within 3 business days.

The mailer must submit appeal documentation to the reviewer within 15 days of review resolution.

A mailer that appeals must give the reviewer its documentation within 15 days of the review's result.

What goes wrong

An assessment neither paid nor sent for review within 10 business days is set to overdue, with payment due immediately. So is a balance not paid within 3 business days of USPS's decision on a review. An assessment still unpaid on the last day of the third calendar month after the assessment month goes to USPS Revenue and Field Accounting. For a January assessment, that day is April 30. An appeal to the Pricing and Classification Service Center stops the escalation, and an escalated assessment can no longer be paid in the Business Customer Gateway.

By/For errors come from four cases:

  1. No valid mail preparer is identified in the eDoc.
  2. No valid mail owner is identified.
  3. The mail preparer is recorded as the mail owner when it is not.
  4. The mail owner was identified as a mail preparer in another eDoc within 90 days.

A mailing of fewer than 5,000 pieces need not identify its mail owner, except for pieces at nonprofit prices. A mail owner that prepares its own mail may be excused from By/For assessments by telling USPS it is also the mail preparer. A custom By/For threshold may be set for a mailer that accepts more than 5% of its volume from mailers presenting fewer than 5,000 pieces.

Two pieces with the same Mailer ID and serial number are non-unique when their Service Type IDs indicate the same class of mail. An IMb spoiled or shorted in production may be reused if the eDoc marks it as spoilage or shortage, or leaves it out. It may not be reused when the spoilage was reported with a Mail.dat .PAR record.

A mailing of fewer than 10,000 pieces may use one serial number on every piece when postage is affixed at the correct price. It may also do so when each piece weighs the same and the pieces are separated by price. Either way, the serial number is not reused for 45 days from the date of mailing.

Mailer IDs are not available for use until 48 hours after activation. An Unlinked Copal warning is logged as soon as a tray marked for co-palletization is submitted. The warning becomes an error if the consolidator's linking file is not submitted within 14 days.

Terms

Full-Service Intelligent MailFS, Full-Service, Full-Service Intelligent Mail option
One of two Intelligent Mail offerings that requires a maximum 31-digit Intelligent Mail barcode comprising five fields: the Barcode ID, Service Type Identifier, Mailer ID, Serial Number, and Routing Code. The Full-Service Intelligent Mail option requires unique mailpiece barcodes, the use of Intelligent Mail barcodes on tray labels or container placards, electronic documentation, and the use of Facility Access and Shipment Tracking to schedule appointments for the entry of mailings.
eDoc submitter
the mailer who submitted the electronic documentation for the mailing
Customer Registration IDCRID, 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 ScorecardMailer scorecard report, Full-Service Mailer Scorecard
a mail quality tool, the Mailer Scorecard, which displays a dashboard view of the results of the letter and flat mailing activity within each of these initiatives over a calendar month.
Error thresholds
a method to measure mailer quality across all pieces mailed in a calendar month
Verification Assessment EvaluatorVAE, Verification Assessment Evaluator (VAE) Service
Access to postage assessment reports is controlled by the Verification Assessment Evaluator (VAE) Service, which is a sub-service of the Managed Mailing Activity Service.
Mail Entry Postage Assessment ReportMail Entry Additional Postage Assessment Report, Mail Entry Assessment Report
eDoc submitters view and pay postage assessments via the Mail Entry Assessment reports.
Business Service AdministratorBSA, Business Services Administrator, Business Server Administrator, Business Systems Administrator
a representative within your company, for each service
By/ForBF
the mail service provider is acting on behalf of the mail owner, creating a By/For relationship: the mail is prepared by the mail service provider, for the mail owner.
Mail OwnerMO
the business entity, organization, or individual who makes business decisions regarding the mailpiece content, directly benefits from the mailing, and ultimately pays for the postage on the mailpiece directly or by way of a Mail Service Provider
Barcode UniquenessBQ
It is a requirement of Full-Service to keep barcodes unique for 45 days across all mailers and mailings on containers, handling units, and pieces.
Handling UnitHU
the equipment (bundles, sacks, trays, and tubs) used to carry mailpieces that have been sorted to a price level for a ZIP Code destination

Documents

Publications

User Guides

Contacts

Irregularities or questions about the Mailer Scorecard go to the PostalOne! Helpdesk at 800-522-9085 or postalone@usps.gov. The email's subject line includes the phrase Mailer Scorecard. A request to add a permit for paying Full-Service assessments goes to the PostalOne! Helpdesk at PostalOne@usps.gov on USPS's form.

Mail owners preparing their own mail contact the PostalOne! Helpdesk about By/For thresholds. So do eDoc submitters preparing more than 5 percent of their mailings for mail owners with fewer than 5,000 mailpieces. A mail owner that prepares its own mail asks its District Business Mail Entry office about being excused from By/For assessments.

Sources