The U.S. Postal Service is seeking mailer comments by April 8 on a proposal to prohibit the use of string or elastic bands to secure palletized bundles of Standard A (formerly third class) Mail flats, catalogs and non-letter size mail pieces, after July 1.
Under the proposal, endorsed by the Mailers Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC), periodicals and first class mailers would also be prohibited from bundling their palletized mailings with elastic bands or string. MTAC is the mailing industry’s advisory panel to the USPS.
The USPS, which eventually plans to extend the prohibition to cover sacked flat-size mail as well, recommended mailers use plastic strapping instead, noting that the use of wire and metal strapping to secure mail bundles is already prohibited.
Unveiling the proposal in the Federal Register, the USPS said it found that mail “packages prepared with string or rubber bands are the most likely to break, and that the tendency for these packages to break increases as the thickness of the package increases.”
As a result, the USPS said individual mail pieces must be processed by hand instead of mechanically, thus increasing both handling and processing costs.
Bundled mail strapped with plastic, the USPS added, was more likely to remain in tact, especially if the pallet was shrink wrapped in plastic.
