USPS Announces Changes to the Postmark Date System
30th December 2025
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has adopted a final rule (FR Doc. 2025-20740) adding Section 608.11, “Postmarks and Postal Possession,” to the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM). The rule formally defines postmarks and identifies the types of markings that qualify as such. Its primary purpose is to improve public understanding that while a postmark confirms the USPS possessed a mail piece on the date inscribed, that date does not necessarily align with the date the USPS first accepted possession of the item. The rule clarifies that the USPS does not postmark all mail in the ordinary course of operations and that the absence of a postmark does not imply the USPS did not accept custody.
In many ways, the USPS illustrates everything deleterious about how the U.S. government currently operates. This ought to be the first thing mentioned whenever anybody wants the government to do something (as VA health care is the immediate counter-example to any government-provided health care system).