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USPS Picture Permit Indicia

USPS Picture Permit Indicia is a USPS option that puts an organization's color logo, brand image or trademark in the permit imprint on its mail. It is for automation First-Class Mail letters and postcards and automation USPS Marketing Mail letters, for a fee per piece on top of postage. Mailers use it to make their brand easier to recognize.

Updated October 28, 202622 sources

What it is

A permit imprint indicia is a printed mark that shows a mailer paid postage from a permit account instead of affixing postage. A Picture Permit indicia adds a color image to that mark and keeps every element the mark already needs. USPS introduced it in June 2012.

Organizations that send automation First-Class Mail letters and postcards or USPS Marketing Mail letters under a mailing permit can apply. A mailer can add images to an existing permit imprint after completing the authorization process.

The mail owner, the business whose mail it is, is responsible for the image. USPS does not provide or endorse the images. A Mail Service Provider, a business that prepares and enters mail for others, may apply for a client with the client's written authorization.

The image makes the sender's logo, products and brands recognizable at once, which can make a mailing more effective.

How it works

A mailer needs a mailing permit before registering for Picture Permit indicia. Each design is reviewed before mail carrying it enters the mailstream. The mailer follows the review on the dashboard of the Business Customer Gateway, the USPS website where businesses manage their mailing.

  1. Get a mailing permit with PS Form 3615 at the Post Office where the mail will be entered.
  2. Register in the Business Customer Gateway and upload a PDF of an addressed mailpiece showing the design.
  3. A Mailpiece Design Analyst at USPS evaluates the sample in about 2 to 3 business days.
  4. USPS Engineering tests the designed mailpieces.
  5. If the design passes, the Picture Permit Program Office asks for a mailing schedule with dates and volumes.
  6. Submit each mailing electronically and claim the fee on the postage statement.
  7. USPS checks Picture Permit piece counts during the Mail Piece Count Verification at acceptance.

Eligible mail and fees

Picture Permit indicia are for automation First-Class Mail letters and postcards and automation USPS Marketing Mail letters. These kinds of mail are not eligible:

  • First-Class Mail paying a single-piece price
  • First-Class Mail and USPS Marketing Mail flats
  • Periodicals, including Pending Periodicals mail
  • Bound Printed Matter
  • Media Mail
  • All parcels

The Picture Permit fee is 1 cent a piece for First-Class Mail letters and cards and 2 cents a piece for USPS Marketing Mail letters. The mailer pays it in addition to postage.

The indicia

Indicia design and placement, including the color image, are set in section 604.5 of the Domestic Mail Manual, USPS's mailing standards. A Picture Permit indicia keeps every element of a standard permit imprint:

  • the mail class, in capital letters
  • U. S. POSTAGE PAID
  • the city and state, with the ZIP Code optional
  • the permit number

A company permit imprint may show the company name in place of the city, state and permit number. The mail class text uses an OCR readable font of at least 8 points, preferably sans serif. An example is FIRST-CLASS MAIL PRSRT.

The image and the whole imprint each have a size range.

PartSize
Image height0.84 to 1.00 inches
Image width1.31 to 1.50 inches
Imprint height, image and text1.625 to 2.00 inches
Imprint width, image and text1.31 to 1.50 inches
Clear zone0.500 inches

The PDF sample must show the mailpiece exactly as it will be printed and mailed. It must meet these requirements:

  • A complete and valid destination address.
  • A color image with no embedded text or numbers.
  • No drop shadow on any edge of the image.
  • A white background with no reverse print under the indicia and its left and bottom clear zone.
  • The indicia in the upper right-hand corner, with its clear zones.
  • A longest text line at least as wide as the image.
  • Mail class text that follows the template USPS provides.
  • No disk mailers, reusable envelopes, perforated folded self-mailers or windowed envelopes.
  • None of the non-machinable traits in DMM 101.1.2.

Mailing and paying

A Picture Permit mailing is submitted in eDoc, the electronic postage statement and mailing data, as Mail.dat or Mail.xml. The eDoc counts the pieces that owe the Picture Permit fee in the Extra Services section of the postage statement.

A Mail Service Provider can enter Picture Permit mail within a combined mailing. The pieces enter as part of an automation mailing within an authorized First-Class Mail or USPS Marketing Mail combined mailing. Full-Service and Basic Service automation pieces both qualify for the fee in a combined mailing. The mail owner must be listed on the Customer Mail Report.

Non-automation pieces at machinable or presort prices can also qualify for the fee in these ways:

  • in a combined mailing with eDoc and a separate postage statement for each client
  • in a separate identical-weight presort mailing of only Picture Permit pieces
  • as single pieces, prepared and presented in groups of 100 by ounce increment

A Picture Permit mailing does not need to be a Full-Service automation mailing.

Rules

Postage must be paid using a Permit Imprint.

A mailer must pay the postage on Picture Permit mail through a permit imprint.

Participating mailers will be required to affirmatively claim this product in the Extra Services section, Line S17, on the postage statement.

A mailer must claim Picture Permit on line S17, in the Extra Services section of the postage statement.

A separate postage statement must be submitted for each Picture Permit mail owner.

Each mail owner's Picture Permit pieces must go on a postage statement of their own, even inside a combined mailing.

All pieces represented on the individual postage statement must be 100% Picture Permit.

Every piece on that postage statement must carry a Picture Permit indicia.

The eDoc must identify the mail owner and mail preparer in the By/For fields by Customer Registration ID (CRID).

The eDoc must name both the mail owner and the business that prepared the mail. It must name each in the By/For fields by its Customer Registration ID, the number that identifies a business location.

Mail Service Provider must submit upon request a report by Picture Permit client showing the total number of pieces by qualifying ZIP CODE.

When asked, a Mail Service Provider must report each Picture Permit client's total pieces by qualifying ZIP Code.

Upon request, the MSP must produce authorization to the Program Office (PO) when acting on behalf of the Mail Owner.

A Mail Service Provider acting for a mail owner must show the owner's authorization to the Picture Permit Program Office when asked.

Customized portions of the proposed indicia design must be in color, e.g., your corporate logo, brand images and trademarks.

The logo, brand image or trademark a mailer adds must be in color.

What goes wrong

Black and white images are not accepted. They did not perform well in USPS operational tests, so color is required.

Each sample needs a valid address, because USPS tests return-to-sender and undeliverable-as-addressed handling on it. Without a complete and valid address, all pieces are rejected and cannot be tested.

The 2 to 3 business day review holds only when the sample meets all the technical requirements. If the PDF sample has a problem, the mailer may have to submit up to 50 samples.

A user ID may hold no permit imprint or OMAS indicia permit for the business locations it serves. That user must request Picture Permit access in the Business Customer Gateway for a location that has one.

USPS, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service or their agents can ask for a Mail Service Provider's authorization from the mail owner when they find it necessary.

Terms

USPS Picture Permit IndiciaPPII, PPI, USPS Picture Permit Indicia (PPI), Picture Permit Imprint Indicia, Picture Permit Indicia
allow organizations to include business-related color images, such their organization logos, organization brand or trademarks in the permit indicia area on mailings of automation First-Class Mail® letters and postcards, and USPS Marketing Mail™ letters for a per-piece fee in addition to postage
Permit ImprintPI, Permit Indicia, permit imprint indicia
a postage payment mark that authorized mailers may use instead of a postage or meter stamp
Mailpiece Design AnalystMDA
Postal employees specially trained to answer your questions regarding mail piece design.
Business Customer GatewayBCG, BCG (Business Customer Gateway)
where shippers can manage their mailing activity
Electronic DocumentationeDoc, Electronic Documentation of Mailing Information, electronic document, electronic mailing documentation
an electronic postage statement that may also contain specific information about a mailing such as barcode information and qualification reports
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
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
Mail Service ProviderMSP, Mailing Service Providers, Mailing Agent
a business entity, organization, or individual acting on behalf of one or more Mail Owners by providing mailing services for which the Mail Owners compensate the Mail Service Provider.
Domestic Mail ManualDMM
The USPS manual that contains the standards governing domestic mail services, descriptions of the mail classes and services and conditions governing their uses, standards for price eligibility and mail preparation, and all postage prices and fees.

Documents

Tech Guides

User Guides

Fact Sheets

FAQs

Contacts

The Picture Permit Program Office answers questions at picturepermit@usps.com. Questions can also go to picturepermit@usps.gov. Samples go to the office at 475 L'Enfant Plaza SW, Room 2P916, Washington, DC 20260-5538.

Sources