Ancillary Service Endorsements by USPS

Ancillary Service Endorsements are the methods used by mailers to direct the USPS on how to handle new address mail.

Ancillary Service Endorsements represent one of the three ways for a mailer to comply with the Move Update standard requirement; and, it’s fairly simple to put into place.  This service is available for several classes of mail:  letters, flats, parcels, bound printed matter, Priority Mail, and periodicals.  You must always have a return address on your mail piece.  There are only four (4) qualifying locations on a mail piece for Ancillary Service Endorsement placement.  The best location is about a half inch underneath your return address.

Your mailing list must be updated at least 95 days before presentment, If you want to receive postal discounts. If not, you must use ancillary service endorsements.

According to the US Census Bureau, over 40 Million people in the United States move each year — an estimated 1 out of every 7 households.

Although as a percentage this figure keeps going down within the U.S., it still creates a problem for the US Postal Service which is trying to contain costs in areas such as redirecting undeliverable or forwarding change-of-address mail, especially when no more than 60% of movers’ filing a change of address online at www.USPS.com/move or via Postal Service form (PS 3575).  Nonetheless, that’s still 6,500 moves processed per hour, so in order to manage this process more efficiently, the Postal Service created the Move Update standard, a requirement since 2008 in order to receive discounted postage rates.

With discounted postage mailings, mail doesn’t automatically come back.  This makes the USPS one of the largest sources for paper recycling in the United States.

U.S. municipalities spent an estimated $1,000,000,000 each year in costs associated with the volume of un-deliverable mail.

Ancillary Service Endorsements are therefore an alternative requirement as a means of curbing this volume of mail if a bulk mailer doesn’t want to verify address changes via an NCOA (National Change of Address) service or some other qualifying means. The USPS has promoted an electronic approach called Address Change Service to satisfy the Move Update standard requirement.

Using ancillary service endorsements usually costs extra and only works when someone filled out their change-of-address with the Postal Service.  Therefore, how or when best to use them, along with associated costs, is not always clear.  We want to help!  To follow our plain-English summary explanations of the endorsements and services rendered, a why-when-and-how to use them, along with cost implications check out our Ancillary Endorsements page.