USPS Drop Shipping Services

USPS_LoadingDockThe Postal Service offers lower prices for mail that is transported by the mailer to certain kinds of postal facilities. Generally, the closer you take the mail to its final destination, the less postage you pay. Why? Because the Postal Service doesn’t have to transport the mail as far: you’ve already done some of the transportation work for us. That saves the Postal Service money—and the savings are passed on to you.

Delivery Now has extensive experience setting up full truckloads of mail from a printer or facilities management center to be routed directly to local/regional DDUs and SCFs nationwide.  Delivery Now assures correct paperwork requirements, tracking and confirmation of on time deliveries for our mass mailer customers.

If you drop ship mail to multiple entry points, you know how confusing all the postal facility acronyms can be. How do you know which facility should be the entry point for which portions of your mailing?

Postal Facilities

Let’s start by defining the primary types of postal facilities:

  • Network Distribution Center (NDC): The new name for what was a BMC, or Bulk Mail Center.Highly mechanized mail processing plants that are part of the USPS network distribution system.  These facilities distribute Standard Mail®, Periodicals Mail, and Package Services Mail in bulk volumes.
  • Airport Mail Center/Airport Mail Facility (AMC/AMF): A postal facility at an airport that receives, concentrates, transfers, dispatches, and distributes mail transported by air.
  • Auxilliary Service Facility (ASF): A mail processing facility that has its own service area and serves as a satellite processing hub for a particular Network Distribution Center (NDC)
  • Sectional Center Facility (SCF): A postal facility that serves as the processing and distribution center (P&DC) for post offices in a designated geographic area as defined by the first three digits of the ZIP Code® of those offices. Some SCFs serve more than one 3-digit ZIP Code range.
  • Area Distribution Center (ADC): A mail processing facility that receives and distributes mail destined for specific ZIP Codes. ADC’s and their associated ZIP Codes are in the DMM labeling list.
  • Destination Delivery Unit (DDU): A postal facility, usually identified by a 5-digit ZIP code, that receives, sorts, and delivers the mail destined to the individual recipients within that 5-digit ZIP area.

Drop Shipping Mail

The USPS provides regulations and incentive pricing for mailers to transport mail at their own cost to postal facilities closer to the ultimate recipients of the mail. Mailers are permitted to drop ship this mail to any of the postal facility types listed above. Mailers may elect to drop ship mail in order to take advantage of the drop ship discounts, or they may drop ship mail in order to better control the delivery window.

If you would like us to do a free comprehensive analysis of your reverse logistics needs in order to evaluate the possible cost savings and/or efficiencies by using our network please contact us asap.