postalref

Service Hubs and Facilities

A service hub is a USPS cross-dock facility where mailers enter properly prepared mail for the delivery units the hub serves. Mail prepared to the hub guidelines gets the DSCF rate. USPS publishes a list of the hubs and the 5-digit offices each one serves.

Updated October 31, 202617 sources

What it is

A service hub is a down-flow mail facility, like a Network Distribution Center, an Area Distribution Center or a Sectional Center Facility. It cross-docks destinating mail that a mailer prepares and enters at the hub. The hub then carries that mail to the delivery units it serves.

Hubs let mailers enter mail closer to its destination for a service benefit. They also cut transportation costs for mailers and for USPS. Service standards for hub entry match the SCF drop standards for each mail class.

Hubs are for mailers who drop ship direct 5-digit and carrier route containers. Those mailers book their drops in FAST, the system that gives USPS advance notice of drop shipments.

How it works

  1. Find the hub that serves the mail's 5-digit offices in the hub list.
  2. Prepare the mail in direct 5-digit or carrier route containers.
  3. Schedule an appointment for the drop in FAST.
  4. Drop the mail at the hub by its critical entry time, 1600.
  5. The hub carries the containers to the delivery units it serves.

What a hub accepts

A hub takes only direct containers it can cross-dock to a delivery unit. The service hub labeling list, L014, names the containers a hub takes for the DSCF discount:

  • 5-Digit ZIP containers of parcels and of nonmachinable Periodicals flats.
  • 5-Digit Carrier Route pallets, bundles, sacks or containers of USPS Marketing Mail, Periodicals and Bound Printed Matter flats.

USPS's general description of hubs is broader: it takes 5-Digit ZIP containers of every class a hub accepts, not only parcels and Periodicals flats.

Flats and parcels qualify by the labeling list they are prepared under:

  • Flats bundles on merged 5-digit scheme or 5-digit scheme carrier route pallets, prepared under L001, are eligible.
  • Flats bundles on 5-digit scheme pallets, prepared under L007, are not eligible.
  • Parcels on 5-digit pallets and 5-digit scheme pallets, prepared under L606, are eligible.

Finding a hub

A list of the current hubs is in FAST, in its Drop Ship Product File Download section. It gives each hub's facility information and the 5-digit offices the hub serves. Each hub's hours vary, and FAST and the Mail Direction File show them.

Other lists name the hubs too:

  • L014A, the service hub labeling list by destination ZIP Code and label.
  • L014B, the service hub labeling list by hub.
  • A list of service hub facilities with each one's area, district, NASS code, site, locale key and start date.

Other facility lists

The product's documents also list other USPS facilities:

  • The eInduction SV Facilities List holds the facilities with Surface Visibility scanning, in CSV format. Each row gives a facility's NASS code, drop site key, locale key, site name and facility type.
  • An Excel spreadsheet holds facility contact information and updates.
  • The Secure Destruction Plant ZIP Lookup Table lists the facilities that run Secure Destruction operations, with each one's ZIP Code.

Service hubs are valid entry points for eInduction. A mailer checks whether a facility has SV scanning in version 4 of the Mail Direction File, where its SV Enabled indicator reads Yes.

Rules

Hubs will accept direct cross-dock containers only of 5-Digit ZIP, 5-Digit Carrier Route (non-FSS zones) pallets, bundles, sacks or containers of Standard, Periodical, Bound Printed Matter, and Parcels.

A hub takes only direct 5-digit and carrier route containers, outside FSS zones.

Hubs will not accept: letters, FSS prepared mail, or any mailing that requires a bundle sort operation.

A hub does not accept letters, mail prepared for FSS, or any mailing that requires a bundle sort.

Mailers dropping at both SV and Non-SV USPS Processing Facilities and Hubs must schedule appointments through the Facility Access and Shipment Tracking (FAST) online system.

A mailer must schedule a FAST appointment to drop mail at a hub, whether or not the hub has SV scanning.

The Critical Entry Time (CET) for all Hub facilities will be 1600

Every hub has the same critical entry time, 1600.

Mail prepped according to the guidelines for Hubs will receive the DSCF rate for dropping at a Hub facility

Mail prepared to the hub guidelines and dropped at a hub gets the DSCF rate.

Anything currently eligible to be dropped at a Destination Delivery Unit (DDU) can be dropped at a Hub, but will receive the Hub (DSCF) discount

Mail that qualifies for entry at a DDU may be dropped at a hub instead. It then gets the DSCF discount.

Terms

Service HubHubs
If a facility is identified as a Hub, it will serve as a cross-dock facility for destinating volume that is properly prepared and entered at the Hub location.
cross-docking
A dock transfer that entails transporting mail that has not and will not be processed in the facility. Mail or equipment may be transported directly between two vehicles, between a vehicle and a staging area, or between two staging areas. The staging areas may be on the platform or inside the facility.
Destination Sectional Center FacilityDSCF, destination sectional center facilities
The sectional center facility (SCF) or other postal facility designated as an SCF where a mailer enters mail directly.
Destination Delivery UnitDDU
The delivery unit or other postal facility designated by USPS as a delivery unit where a mailer enters mail destined for addresses served by the carriers of the unit.
critical entry timeCET
(1) For mailers, the latest time that a reasonable amount of a mail class or product can be received at the platform at designated induction points in the postal network for it to be processed and dispatched in time to meet service standards (i.e., the latest time when mail can be presented to postal operations of Day Zero processing). (2) For USPS, the latest time that committed mail can be received in an operation and still be processed before clearance time to meet the service standard for mail processing, dispatch, and final delivery.
Flats Sequencing SystemFSS
A two-pass flats sorting machine that automates the sorting of flat-sized mail into precise delivery order by internally refeeding first-pass mail for sorting on the second pass.
Mail Direction FileMDF
The Mail Direction File is part of the drop ship product available from the FAST website at https://fast.usps.com/fast/fastApp/resources/dropShipFileDownload.action.
Drop Ship Product
An address management database containing information that mailers need in order to take mailings directly to network distribution centers, sectional center facilities, area distribution centers, or destination delivery units. These files are available through the Facility Access and Shipment Tracking Web site.
Surface VisibilitySV
USPS eInduction sites equipped with Surface Visibility (SV) scanning technology download information on expected containers from PostalOne! upon acceptance.
locale key
The locale key is a unique identifier for every USPS facility.
National Air and Surface SystemNASS
A computerized system operated at the St. Louis Accounting Service Center and distribution networks offices to produce dispatch and labeling information for all mail classes.

Documents

Tech Guides

Fact Sheets

Data Files

Contact Lists

Contacts

For questions about hubs, USPS gives ncsc.servstan@usps.gov and 1-800-238-3150.

Sources