"Do Not Bend" = "Parcel" ?

I received some covers in a manila #10 envelope with some cardboard stiffener inside. When I weighed it, it was 1.9 oz, but the seller had put $0.91 cents of postage on it, enough for 3 oz. However, marked next to the postage was a handwritten "$1.41 due" and the carrier left an envelope in the mailbox for me to enclose $1.41. Since it looked to me like the postage was more than adequate, instead of putting the money in the mailbox, I went down to the post office to ask about it this morning.

Their response? It was market "Do Not Bend" and that it therefore required a first class parcel rate, which is $2.32 for 3 oz. I asked them to show me where in postal regulations marking an envelope with "Do Not Bend" requires treating it as a parcel? The clerk said they couldn't, so I left without paying.

Has anybody else ever heard of this, or encountered the same thing?

Basil

It's a crazy USA thing. It's called something like "the stiff rule." Exists nowhere else in the world.

Unless it was super thick, it should have just incurred a 21¢ non-machinable surcharge

This is what happens when you play postal clerk bingo (i.e. it depends on who you ask). There is no such regulation to my knowledge. There is what will fit in the machines (machineable) versus what will need to be processed by hand (non-machineable) but the latter requires only a modest surcharge - surely not postage at the 3 oz. rate... John

p.s. The "please do not bend" sticker has no significance at all, to my knowledge - I use them all the time. Neither does a "fragile" or "photographs" sticker...

I agree the item should only be assessed the 21-cent non-machineable surcharge.

Not the it matters much (as USPS personnel will not listen to the customer) but as per DMM 601, Section 5.1 (a), provision is made specifically for this. Basically, the "Do Not Bend" reference must only be applied if the content includes stiffeners, thus if the "Do Not Bend" reference is on the piece, the non-machineable surcharge applies (regardless of whether you choose to use stiffeners or not). The parcel rate shouldn't come into play at all.

Here's the excerpt from the Domestic Mail Manual:

This is the reason I quit writing "DO NOT BEND" on envelopes containing stiffeners. The interpretation does indeed seem to vary from one postal clerk to another. Without the extra verbage, I only need to pay the non-machinable surcharge ... and for the extra ounce when it is applicable.

Interesting. I weighed the "package" at the scale in the PO lobby, and it was 1.9 oz. First class postage for 2 oz would be $0.70. The seller put $0.91 in postage on it. So looks to me like the seller included $0.21 extra for non-machinable!

Do you have to do anything "special" to let the PO know that the postage is supposed to cover the non-machinable surcharge?

Another question. It looks to me like the decision to access "postage due" was made at my PO, and not at the PO from which it was originally mailed. For that much additional postage due, I would have thought it would be "return[ed] to sender." And since it was just handwritten -- image below -- how am I to know that this just doesn't end up in somebody's pocket, if I pay?

I've mailed many thousands of envelopes at the letter rate with the extra non-machinable surcharge and every one of them has been marked "Do Not Bend". It means nothing more than what wt1 posted and shouldn't be classified as a parcel unless the weight or dimensions exceed the size limits. I mark them "Do Not Bend" more so for the carrier end so that mail isn't folded to fit into a small mailbox or slot. Hopefully, this wasn't one of my shipments (it's not - I didn't use those stamps)

When I mail non-machinable mail I simply tell the clerk so that all the mail is hand-canceled. Nothing "special" beyond that.

update since the pic above is added - It looks like the post office worker even had to correct their initial estimate as the number is overwritten. Obviously, the stamps are not canceled. They should have been postmarked at the post office of origin. That is something everyone should insist on when you mail an item.

I think each US post office has their own way of handling things, but at mine (for letters):

"DO NOT FOLD" = 49c w/ no surcharge (assuming otherwise qualifies as "letter")
"DO NOT BEND" = 49c + 21c non-machinable surcharge added

If you think about how the sorting equipment works (11" radius turns, 40 lb tension IIRC,) this makes perfect sense. Letters "bend" as they go through the sorting machinery. Marking it "DO NOT BEND" deserves the non-machinable surcharge.

But stamps can bend and not be damaged...and including a stiffener in an envelope doesn't automatically make it non-machinable. The bottom line is that as long as your letter is uniformly thick & can pass the minimum flexibility test for flats (DMM Sec 201.4.3c, which is actually tougher to do with letters,) it will go at the "regular" letter rate of 49c (or 70c for 2 oz) w/ no surcharge. Such envelopes could even conceivably be marked "DO NOT FOLD" and would not incur the non-machinable surcharge (although I don't believe marking it that way is necessary - very few letters are actually "folded.")

There's an illustration of the flexibility test for flats at the link below:
http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/201.htm#1096362

My "machinable" letters with stiffeners easily make those 11" radius turns without damaging stamps. The stiffeners I use are 24pt or 30pt chipboard type and those easily pass that flexibility test, even in #6 3/4 envelopes. I send hundreds (sometimes thousands) every year that way at the 49c rate without (ever) getting one delivered postage due or arriving damaged.

blcjr, many of those manila envelopes are not #10 size but rather slightly larger. Max length for letter is 11 1/2" - you might want to check that to make sure it qualified as a letter and not a flat. If >11 1/2" and marked "DO NOT BEND," then parcel would have been correct designation for that non-machinable flat & $2.32 the correct rate.

If however it truly was #10 (letter) sized, uniform thickness, and marked "DO NOT BEND," then it should have just been assessed the non-machinable surcharge of 21c, not the full parcel rate. The USPS would have goofed in that case, and depending on how high up the ladder you wanted to argue, you would have eventually prevailed...

Also bear in mind that the manila-type envelopes will automatically require a 21-cent non-machineable surcharge if they contain a metal clip fastener or string tie, as many manila envelopes often do ... regardless of whether it is marked "Do Not Bend" or not. See 1.2 (c) below:

A common size for manila envelopes is the #12 envelope - 4 3/4" x 11" which can still be mailed at letter rates. They do not have clasps or other bulk/rigid fastener.

I have been thru the same argument with the US Postal Service.

I posted an 8x8" bubble envelope with a stiffener & collectibles for the grandchildren (cards, stamps, Wall-E cd) overseas. Width was now just over 1/4", which should have upgraded me from letter to flat but, either way, cost U$D ~5. Clerk insisted I pay the parcel rate, eg, U$D ~10.

Being an accommodating sort, I next tried a 6x9" photo mailer (same sort of contents), which I expected would travel at the letter rate (much less than 1/4" thick) plus the non-machinable charge.

Different clerk, different post office, different *county*, same result: the clerk insisted it be rated as a parcel at, again, double the price.

"But a letter can be rigid" says I, "and that adds only 21 cents."

"Yes, but that is for 'rigid', and this is actually STIFF."

I got stiffed, in more ways than one.

I next wrote the USPS HQ on my letterhead, asking for a ruling about the photo mailers, on their letterhead.

Eighty-five days later, and still no answer to that simple question.

Of late, I have resorted to ikeyPikey's Maxim: "Count on indifference to make a difference."

I insert stiffeners in a greeting-card-sized envelope. In the middle, along the top, I hand-write the amount of postage for a first-class letter and, underneath that, write "21c".

I put what I think is the correct letter rate worth of postage on the right side of the envelope, and add twenty-one cents worth of post over on the left side of the envelope - perhpas inadvertently creating the impression that I added the 21c after a window clerk told me to pay the non-machineable surcharge - and toss it the outbound mail slot. Sans customs declaration, to boot.

These arrive at their destination, on time, intact, no postage due, no nothing. YMMV.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

It is definitely #10: I measure it to be 4-1/8" x 9-3/8". Thickness is uniform, at about 2/10 of an inch, or less than the 1/4" maximum. And no metal clasp. Very much the standard #10 manila envelope.

As for "going up the ladder," I'm not really sure that I have to, though it might make for an interesting experience. What happens if I refuse to pay? They cannot refuse to mail it--I've already received it! Are they going to stop delivering my mail over it?

I will be going right by the post office in the morning, and have the time to pursue it further with them. If I'm on firm ground (I think I am, and your reply helped a lot with that), then why not? I'll be pleasant enough about it.

Basil

Just returned from the PO. The clerk I talked to really couldn't explain why someone was trying to treat it as a parcel. She said maybe someone thought it was too stiff, and then demonstrated a "flex test" to see how much bend or flexibility there was. So I just asked what will happen if I ignore the request for the additional "postage due" and she just shrugged her shoulders. So that was it and I left, letter in hand, and without paying.

I'm curious though, about her flex test. Is that applicable to letters? I thought it applied to flats. If the non-machinable rate is paid, does it matter if the letter is rigid, and will not flex? Why should it matter, if it is not going to be machine processed?

Basil

I just had the opposite problem this morning. A postal clerk (a newbie) tried to charge me the large envelope rate when my envelope was 9"x18" (actually, 2 9x13s taped together). It even had a cardboard stiffener inside. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending upon your viewpoint) I already had almost enough postage on the package to cover the parcel rate. I told him he was wrong & after he recalculated, I added a couple more stamps. But he is new & just learning ... an event not likely to be repeated.