USPS Returns® Fact Sheet Shipper Onboarding

Eligible Return

Products

First-Class Package

Return® Service

Priority Mail® Return

Service

Parcel Select

Ground® Return

Service

Parcel Return Service

- Full Network

Benefits

Robust Scan Data

Decreased Reliance

on Manual Steps

Piece-level Attribute

Based Pricing

Billing at the time of

package delivery

Greater Package

Visibility

Single Payment

Account

Business Customer

Gateway

https://gateway.usps.com

A single entry point to

enroll in USPS®

online business

services.

PostalPro™

https://postalpro.usps.com/

Website to find

resources on current

USPS programs

including publications,

industry alerts, prices

changes, and tech

guides.

PostalOne!® Help Desk

Call: 1-877-264-9693

Option 1

Email:

DELIVERY.CONFIRMATION

@usps.gov

Mailing and Shipping

Solutions Center

Call: 1-877-672-0007

June 2019

USPS® has developed a new automated verification and payment method for Merchandise Returns Service (MRS) and Scan Based Payment (SBP) returns which is branded as USPS Returns®. The new methodology for USPS Returns® replaces current manual postage and fee assessments and improves visibility of return packages. Leveraging upgraded Mail Processing Equipment (MPE) to capture package attributes expedites the returns processing and enables consistent USPS assessments of packages processing and enables consistent USPS assessments of packages.

Mail Entry and Payment Technology

Key Steps — USPS Returns®

Enrollment

1. Enroll in the Business Customer Gateway (BCG)

Shippers register in the BCG to enroll in USPS Returns® and designate the CRID(s) to profiles.

Shippers can use their BCG accounts to activate their EPS accounts, request or look-up their MIDs, view pay-ment transactions through EPS, and set-up data downloads through Informed Visibility® (IV®) Mail Tracking & Reporting (IV-MTR) application.

For more information:

Use Online Resources on PostalPro™ at https://postalpro.usps.com/.

Contact PostalOne!® Confirmation Services Customer Support Desk at 1-877-264-9693

Option 1.

2. Create Enterprise Payment System (EPS) account

Shippers must set-up an EPS account which can be funded with local deposits, Fedwire, ACH Credit,

and ACH Debit. Details on account set-up are available at: https://postalpro.usps.com/EPS/MigrationFactSheet.

Enroll-

ment

1 Create Your BCG account Register for a Business Customer Gateway (BCG) Account

and add the necessary CRID to your profile.

2 Create EPS account Create an Enterprise Payment System (EPS) account.

3 Choose Mailer ID

Choose a Mailer ID (MID) to be used for USPS Returns®.

The MID must be located on the same CRID as the EPS

account.

4 Update Customized/

Contract Pricing

If you have a contract pricing agreement with the USPS,

contact your Sales Representative to have your contract

pricing authorization updated with your MIDs.

5 Prepare New Labels

Use enrolled MIDs and approved Service Type Codes

(STCs) embedded in the Intelligent Mail package barcode

(IMpb) when printing USPS Returns® labels.

6 Enroll in USPS Returns®

Contact the Mailing and Shipping Solution Center (MSSC)

at 1-877-672-0007 to complete enrollment in USPS

Returns®.

Trans-

actions

7 Consumer Drop-Off Consumers initiate return of packages through retail, carrier

pickup, or drop-off at a collection box.

8 Manifest Submission

(optional)

Prepare and submit electronic shipping service files through

DTS (Data Transfer Services).

9 Enroute Processing and

Postage Calculation

Attributes (weight, dimensions, mail class) collected as

packages move through the network are used to accurately

price packages. If the required price attributes are not cap-

tured during package processing, the price will be deter-

mined using an average or default pricing model.

10 Payment Enterprise Payment System (EPS) account associated to

the enrolled MID is charged for the returns.

Reporting 11 View Your Data

Highly customizable transaction level data feeds are made

available through the Informed Visibility® (IV®) Mail Track-

ing & Reporting (IV-MTR) application.

USPS Returns® Fact Sheet Shipper Onboarding

June 2019 Mail Entry and Payment Technology

Enrollment (Continued)

STC Description Mail Class

017 PRS Full Network Service Insurance <= $500

FN

018 PRS Full Network Service Insurance > $500

FN

019 Priority Mail Return Service MR

020 First-Class Package Return Service FR

022 Ground Return Service GR

024 PRS Full Network Scan Weigh and Pay

FN

596 Priority Mail Return Service Insurance <= $500

MR

597 First-Class Package Return Service Insurance <= $500

FR

598 Ground Return Service Insurance <= $500

GR

599 Priority Mail Return Service Insurance > $500

MR

600 First-Class Package Return Service Insurance > $500

FR

601 Ground Return Service Insurance > $500

GR

820 Priority Mail Return Service Signa-ture Confirmation

MR

821 First Class Package Return Service Signature Confirmation

FR

822 Ground Return Service Signature Confirmation

GR

823 Priority Mail Return Service: Ins <= $500 Sig Confirmation

MR

824 First-Class Pkg Return Service: Ins <= $500 Sig Confirmation

FR

825 Ground Return Service: Ins <= $500 Sig Confirmation

GR

826 Priority Mail Return Service: Ins > $500 Sig Confirmation

MR

827 First-Class Pkg Return Service: Ins > $500 Sig Confirmation

FR

828 Ground Return Service: Ins > $500 Sig Confirmation

GR

3. Choose Mailer ID (MID)

Shippers either request new MIDs through BCG or choose an existing MID to be used for USPS Returns®.

Note: A MID/STC combination can only be active in either SBP or USPS Returns®.

The MID will be printed in the Intelligent Mail package barcode (IMpb) on the return label (s).

The MID is linked to an EPS account during enrollment.

-The MID must be located on the same CRID as the EPS account

USPS Returns® Label Format

6. Enroll in USPS Returns®

Once a shipper is ready to participate, they will contact the Mailing and Shipping Solution Center at 1-877-672-0007 to complete their enrollment and they must provide:

Shipper’s CRID.

Shipper’s MIDs: Mailer ID that will be printed on return label.

STC which will be printed on return label.

USPS Returns® STCs

USPS Returns® labels must use one of the following label

constructs:

C01 – Commercial Mail Construct

C05 – Commercial Mail Construct

Mailer may be required to use a specific Zip+4

4. Update Customized Pricing

Shippers with existing Negotiated Service Agreement (NSA) or Com-mercial Plus™ Pricing (CPP) authorizations will need to contact their Sales Representative in order to link contract pricing for use in USPS Returns®.

5. Prepare USPS Returns® Labels

Shippers must use their enrolled MIDs and approved STCs when cre-ating their USPS Returns® labels. The Service Type Code (STC) is a unique identifier included in the IMpb which specifies the Mail Class and may include Extra Services. Traditional MRS labels are not used in the new automated system, existing MRS Shippers will need to en-sure they transition to the new label format:

USPS Returns® Fact Sheet Shipper Onboarding

June 2019 Mail Entry and Payment Technology

Enrollment (Continued)

7. Consumer Drop-Off

Same as today, deposit of return packages may be initiated by consumers through retail, carrier pickup, or drop-off in a collection box.

8. Manifest Submission (optional) Mailers have the option of preparing and submitting an electronic Shipping Service File (v2.0) manifest through DTS (Data Transfer Services). Submission of a manifest will be for:

Inclusion of insurance

Manifested based pricing when captured attributes are not available

9. Enroute Processing and Postage Calculation

USPS will price USPS Returns® packages as they move through the USPS network using published commercial prices, NSA, or CPP prices if applicable, as follows:

Characteristic Pricing: Packages will be priced using their attributes when the required set of attributes are captured during pro-cessing (STC, MID, Weight, Dimensions, Origin/Destination ZIP® Codes, and USPS Packaging Barcodes (UPCs).

Average Pricing: Shipper specific average postage will be used when captured attributes are not available.

Default Pricing: Default price is used when no attributes were captured, and no average is available. 10. Payment

The Package Platform will charge the EPS account associated to the MID at the time of the delivery scan event.

Transactions

Reporting 11. View Your Data Customizable transaction level data extracts are available by enrollment through the Informed Visibility® (IV®) Mail Tracking & Reporting (IV-MTR) application (iv.usps.com). Users are able to select either Push Reports, which are sent through Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), or Pull Reports, which are available for download. The data feeds can be used for any reconciliation and internal/external reporting. First time users can enroll in the IV-MTR service through the BCG; complete enrollment instructions are provided on PostalPro at: https://postalpro.usps.com/InformedVisibility/ApplyForAccess. Shippers have access to timely piece level data through:

Existing Product Tracking and Reporting (PTR) extracts.

Pricing Scan Feed: Package attribute and pricing data feed (Note: Payment is not collected at this time from IV).

Final Notification Feed: Package payment data feed from IV.