postalref

Share Mail

Share Mail is a way for a business to hand out First-Class Mail letters and postcards that people can mail on to others without a stamp. The business that produces the pieces, the account holder, pays their postage. Businesses and organizations use it for referral marketing.

Updated October 31, 202625 sources

What it is

Share Mail is a postage payment arrangement for single-piece First-Class Mail letters and postcards that carry an Intelligent Mail barcode, or IMb. It was formerly called Alternate Postage. The pieces can pass between any two parties, such as a franchise and its franchisees, a business and its customers, or customers and their friends. A cruise line, for example, gives its guests postcards that they can mail without stamps.

The account holder is the individual or company that registers for the service. A Mail Service Provider, a business that mails for others, may register on behalf of one of its customers. Whoever enrolls and holds the payment account owes the postage on every piece that enters the mail. The program has no minimum volume.

How it works

The account holder gives out Share Mail pieces, and most businesses enclose them in another mailpiece. A recipient mails a piece on the way they would mail any single-piece First-Class Mail. USPS handles, processes and delivers the piece to single-piece First-Class Mail standards. Pieces go only to addresses in the United States and to APO/FPO/DPO locations.

During processing, FIM E, the IMb and the indicia together identify a piece as the account holder's Share Mail. A piece is Recorded as Scanned when processing equipment first captures its IMb. USPS then invoices the account holder and takes the postage from its payment account.

The account holder's path from enrollment to payment.

  1. The account holder registers through the Share Mail link on the Business Customer Gateway.
  2. USPS assigns it a Mailer ID to use only on Share Mail pieces.
  3. The account holder emails its mailpiece design to the Share Mail Program Office.
  4. The Program Office emails its approval, and printing and distribution can begin.
  5. Recipients mail the pieces, and processing equipment scans each one.
  6. USPS debits the account holder's payment account for the scanned pieces.

Enrolling

Before enrolling, an account holder needs four things:

  • an account on the Business Customer Gateway, USPS's site for business mailers;
  • an Enterprise Payment System account;
  • a Business Reply Mail or Postage Due permit linked to that account;
  • the ability to print a static or unique IMb on each piece.

The January 2017 program rules name a Centralized Account Processing System account, CAPS, as the payment account instead. Enrollment and design approval can take up to 7 business days.

The design goes to the Program Office as a high-quality image of both sides, exactly as it will print. The sample shows FIM E, the indicia and the IMb. The Program Office checks that the Mailer ID and STID in the IMb are correct. Each new or changed design is sent separately, but a change to the preprinted address alone needs no review.

The address side

Three elements on the address side mark a piece as Share Mail: the IMb, FIM E and the indicia. USPS uses the IMb to track and count the pieces for payment and reporting.

The IMb carries a Mailer ID, the number USPS supplies to identify the account holder and the mail shape. USPS assigns one Mailer ID for letters and a different one for postcards. The same Mailer ID serves static and unique IMbs. The Program Office assigns nine-digit Mailer IDs, and those assigned before 1/1/17 have six digits. The serial number is six digits, static or unique.

A static IMb is the same on every piece, and a unique IMb differs from piece to piece. A unique IMb lets the account holder track individual responses and follow up on them. The IMb sits above the address block.

Each kind of IMb has its own Service Type Identifier, or STID, which USPS uses to tell Share Mail pieces apart and account for them. The Share Mail STIDs took effect on October 1, 2016.

The two Share Mail STIDs, one for unique IMbs and one for static IMbs.

Service Type IDentifier (STID) Table, effective January 21, 2024
STIDOptionInformed Visibility Mail Tracking & Reporting
733Share Mail with a Unique IMbWith IV® MTR
734Share Mail with a Static IMbWith IV® MTR

2 codes in the Service Type IDentifier (STID) Table, effective January 21, 2024, where STID is 733 or 734.

FIM E is the Facing Identification Mark USPS requires on Share Mail letters and postcards. USPS uses it to orient each piece for processing. Its bars encode the binary pattern 101000101. It sits in a clear zone at the upper right of the address side, which holds no other printing. USPS publishes a FIM-E template with the pattern formatted for Share Mail.

The indicia is the printed postage mark that takes the place of a stamp in the upper-right corner. Its wording is FIRST-CLASS MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID [COMPANY NAME] IMB-POSTAGE. It is set in Arial Bold capitals of 6 or 8 points.

Mailpiece design

A Share Mail letter weighs at most 1 ounce, envelope included. Letters and postcards meet the First-Class Mail eligibility and machinability standards of the Domestic Mail Manual. Addresses may be handwritten or preaddressed.

An envelope may hold flexible items such as gift cards. Rigid odd-shaped items such as pens and keys are prohibited. On a postcard, the right portion of the address side holds the address, postage and USPS markings, and is at least 2.13 inches wide.

Payment

Each piece costs the prevailing price of a 1-ounce Share Mail letter or postcard. The prices appear in Notice 123, the Price List. USPS may sample the address sides of pieces to check that the account holder uses the right Mailer IDs.

The Program Office periodically notifies the account holder of the number of pieces recorded as scanned. It gives notice of each withdrawal from the payment account 5 business days ahead.

Leaving the program

An account holder leaves by notifying the Program Office by email. It keeps complete records of its Share Mail transactions for at least 2 years afterward. USPS may examine those records once a year, on 30 days' notice by email.

Rules

The account holder must submit a mailpiece design by email to the Program Office for review and approval before printing the mailpieces.

The account holder must have each design approved by the Share Mail Program Office before it prints any pieces.

Use of Share Mail STID 733 and 734 requires the mailer to submit production quality mailpieces to the USPS® for approval prior to use. Informed Visibility® Mail Tracking & Reporting service is also required.

A mailer must have its production pieces approved before it uses the Share Mail STIDs. It must also use Informed Visibility Mail Tracking & Reporting.

Once registration is complete, the Postal Service assigns the account holder a six-digit or nine-digit mailer ID — the account holder may use this ID only on Share Mail letters or postcards.

USPS gives the account holder a Mailer ID at enrollment, and the account holder may use it only on Share Mail pieces.

The account holder may not use FIM E for any mailings other than Share Mail.

An account holder may not print FIM E on any mail but Share Mail.

The account holder must distinguish between 1-ounce letters and postcards by the use of separate MIDs.

Letters and postcards must carry different Mailer IDs.

The account holder must pay the Postal Service the prevailing Share Mail price for each static or unique IMb letter or postcard at the time the mailpiece is scanned (as opposed to distributed).

The account holder must pay for each piece when USPS scans it, not when the piece is handed out.

The account holder must maintain sufficient funds available for ACH transfer through the CAPS Account to cover the amounts due.

The account holder must keep enough money in its payment account to cover what it owes.

The account holder must maintain its CAPS account until no recorded scans have been received for a 12-month period.

The account holder must keep its payment account open until 12 months pass with no recorded scans.

What goes wrong

When USPS finds an error in how pieces are prepared or given out, it tells the account holder by email. An error left uncorrected for 20 business days costs the account holder its authorization. To be reauthorized, the account holder corrects the error and makes sure future pieces meet the specifications.

USPS may also revoke an authorization at its sole discretion for format errors or misuse. An account holder that fails to maintain its payment account may lose its authorization. USPS may cancel an authorization without cause, by email. An account holder still owes postage on pieces it gives out after a cancellation, if they are mailed.

A piece with the wrong Mailer ID is still charged the price for its size. Unpaid amounts go to Accounts Receivable, which can include collection through the U.S. Treasury.

Terms

FIM E
The Postal Services requires a special Facing Identification Mark — FIM E — for Share Mail letters and postcards.
Facing Identification MarkFIM
A pattern of vertical bars and spaces used by automated postal equipment such as a facercanceler to identify, orient, and separate certain types of mail.
Intelligent Mail BarcodeIMb, 4CB, Intelligent Mail barcode (piece level barcode), 4CB, 4-CB, USPS4CB, USPS 4-State Customer Barcode, 4-state customer barcode
The IMb is a height-modulated barcode that encodes up to 31 digits of mailpiece data into 65 vertical bars using a 4-state symbology.
static IMb
a barcode that does not vary by mailpiece
unique IMb
a barcode that does vary by mailpiece
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.
Service Type IdentifiersSTID, STIDS, STI, Service Type IDs, Service Type ID(s)
A unique three-digit code embedded in the Intelligent Mail® barcode (IMb®) that indicates the service type for an individual mailpiece.
indiciaindicium
Imprinted designation and markings on mail that denote postage payment (e.g., permit imprint, metered postage, and PC Postage products). Broadly, the term can include postage stamps. In many instances, the amount of postage paid is not displayed on the mailpiece. Although the term is technically the plural of indicium, indicia may be used like the term data to indicate singular or plural.
Recorded as Scanned
Share Mail letters or postcards are considered to be “Recorded as Scanned” after they are mailed, when the Postal Service processing equipment first captures the IMb information that identifies the piece as a Share Mail letter or postcard.
Enterprise Payment SystemEPS, Electronic Payment System, EPS system, Enterprise System
allows customers to pay for Postal products and services through a single account, called the Enterprise Payment Account (EPA).
Centralized Account Processing SystemCAPS
A postage payment system that business mailers can use to fund permit imprint, Business Reply Mail service, Merchandise Return Service, postage due, USPS Corporate Accounts, and Address Element Correction. CAPS is an electronic alternative to presenting checks and cash for postage and fees at multiple Post Offices.
Informed Visibility Mail Tracking & ReportingIVMTR, IV, MTR, IV Mail Tracking & Reporting, Informed Visibility - Mail Tracking and Reporting, Informed Visibility (IV) Mail Tracking & Reporting
provides near real-time tracking information for all letters, flats, and mail aggregates, which includes containers, handling units, and bundles – giving mailers visibility into their mailings and service, increasing the value of mail and enabling mailers to plan their mailings, measure success of each mailing campaign, and efficiently staff.

Documents

Technical Specifications

Publications

Quick Service Guides

Fact Sheets

FAQs

Tools

Contacts

The Share Mail Program Office answers questions at sharemail@usps.gov. It responds to a design sample within 48 hours of receiving it.

Sources