Marriage Mail Information

Marriage Mail Incentive

Marriage Mail is a form of direct mail in which marketing service companies combine or “marry” advertisements (e.g., coupons or sales notices) from multiple companies into one mail piece to reduce the cost of the mailing for individual advertisers.

The Marriage Mail Incentive is a discounted (incentive) price offered on saturation Marketing Mail letters and flats that meet certain requirements including weight and advertiser content. It has been developed in response to market needs and will benefit the mailing industry, small businesses, consumers, and the USPS. As of July 9, 2023,the incentive price will be a 10% discount on qualifying pieces.

Who is eligible to claim the Marriage Mail Incentive price?

A Mail Owner¹ who satisfies the requirements listed below will be eligible to claim the Marriage Mail Incentive price.

The customer must be an eDoc submitter using mail.dat, mail.XML or Postal Wizard
Have a unique Mail Owner CRID
Have an Enterprise Payment Account registered in PostalOne!
Eligible mail must be Saturation Marketing Mail letters or flats (including EDDM-Commercial).

Marriage Mail Incentive requirements include, among other factors, stipulations on

Mail piece weight and content
Mailing frequency measured and tracked by Mail Owner CRID.

The requirements are listed below.

How is the Marriage Mail Incentive price claimed in the eDoc/Postage Statement?

While preparing the eDoc, a Mail Owner must place a check mark in the box for “Marriage Mail Incentive,” or equivalent, using the format of the appropriate eDoc field. By doing so, the Mail Owner or submitter certifies compliance with all requirements for claiming the Marriage Mail Incentive price. Completing this entry will then allow the eDoc submitter or Mail Owner to fill out the relevant Postage Statement entry lines to claim the Incentive price for the qualifying number of mail pieces.

What entries are required in mail.dat and mail.XML in order to claim the Marriage Mail Incentive price?

For eDocsubmissions claiming Marriage Mail incentive, the Mail.dat Component Characteristic record (maildat.ccr) must have a value of “MM” as a type of “C” (Content), and the Mail.XML Content block must be used to document a value of “MM.” Note: Marriage Mail is a type of content of mail and the incentive is applied automatically when Marriage Mail is identified as content.

Can this Incentive be combined with other incentives or discounts offered by the USPS?

Yes. A Mail Owner who claims the Marriage Mail Incentive is not precluded from availing of other incentives or discounts, subject to meeting the requirements of each incentive and discount.

Requirements to claim the Marriage Mail Incentive price

The requirements to claim the Incentive price include the following:

Claimed by the Mail Owner (see footnote1) and compliance is tracked against the corresponding Mail Owner CRID.
Applies only to Saturation Marketing Mail Letters or Flats (including EDDM-Commercial).
Minimum of 4 advertisers per mail piece(on one sheet or multiple sheets, bound or inserted).
Mail piece weight not to exceed 2 oz.
Minimum mailing frequency of 10 qualifying mailings per 12-month cycle commencing from the month of first claim of this Incentive price by a Mail Owner CRID.
Mail Owner CRID is the only CRID that will be used to monitor compliance with the qualification requirements for this Incentive price.
Mail submission via eDoc only using mail.dat, mail.XMLor Postal Wizard.
To obtain the Incentive price, the Mail Owner must place a checkmark in the box for “Marriage Mail Incentive,” or equivalent, using the format of the appropriate eDocfield.
Each Postage Statement used to claim the Marriage Mail Incentive must contain only one Mail Owner (and Mail Owner CRID).
An eDoc submitter preparing an eDoc for more than one Mail Owner (and Mail Owner CRID) claiming the Marriage Mail Incentive must prepare and submit a separate Postage Statement for each Mail Owner (and Mail Owner CRID).
Mail owners using non-Seamless entry and Postal Wizard are required to submit a physical mail piece sample along with the mailing. This sample will be used for content validation by Mail Acceptance staff.
Mail owners using non-Seamless entry and mail.dat or mail.XML are recommended to submit a physical mail piece sample along with the mailing. Doing so is expected to reduce the likelihood of being audited. This sample will be used for content validation by Mail Acceptance staff.
Mail owners using Seamless entry are not expected to submit a physical mail piece sample along with the mailing. However, they are subject to a random audit at any time (see below).
Every Mail Owner claiming this Incentive price (Seamless and non-Seamless entry) must hold for 15 months after the date of postage statement finalization, physical samples or electronic image files showing 4 or more advertisers in each mailpiece that claims the Incentive price.
When requested, a Mail Owner must provide to the USPS, for up to 15 months after the date of postage statement finalization, physical samples or electronic image files showing 4 or more advertisers in each mailpiece claiming this Incentive Price. Each sample and image file must show enough information to infer the identity of the advertiser represented therein.
A failure by a Mail Owner to provide this sample or image file within the stipulated time (30 business days) will constitute non-compliance with the requirements of this Incentive price and will require the mailer to pay a Postage Adjustment amount to cover the value of the Incentive claimed/received by the mailer, i.e., to pay the full non-Incentive price.
A Mail Owner who has received this Incentive price and is later found, through a random audit, not to have complied with one or more of its requirements will be required to pay to the USPS a Postage Adjustment amount to cover the value of the Incentive that was incorrectly claimed/received by the Mailer Owner. In other words, this Mail Owner will be responsible for paying the full non-Incentive Price for all pieces not in compliance with the Incentive requirements.

1 A Mail Owner, for the purposes of the Marriage Mail Incentive, is a business or organization that consolidates advertisements from multiple clients (i.e., the “advertisers”) into one mail piece. It is the Mail Owner who would (a) claim the Marriage Mail Incentive price, (b) be responsible for complying with the Incentive requirements listed above, and (c) be accountable for paying any Postage Adjustment amounts arising from non-compliance with Incentive requirements. This Mail Owner’s unique CRID will be used for tracking compliance with frequency and other Incentive requirements listed above. In this document, the term “mailer” is taken to mean the Mail Owner.