March 6, 2020

Dear Friends of the Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers:

We just had a call with Steve Monteith, VP of marketing at USPS, about coronavirus.  The short version is that the U.S. Postal Service has decided on no significant changes nor identified any service issues at the moment, except for previously announced impacts on mail to and from Italy, Hong Kong, and China. 

No decision has been made to cancel the March 24-26 Mailers Technical Advisory Committee meeting in DC, although they have received messages from members that they cannot travel.  MTAC information can be found here:  https://postalpro.usps.com/mtac .  They realize they need to make a decision in the next week to ten days. 

And no decision has been made on the April 26-29 National Postal Forum in Orlando.  They are monitoring what other conferences are doing and it’s currently a mixed bag.  Information on NPF is here:  https://npf.org/ .

We can check this page for official statements, and there is one on the pandemic now:  https://about.usps.com/newsroom/statements/ .

USPS Statement on Coronavirus

March 4, 2020

The US Postal Service is closely monitoring the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation and continues to follow strategies and measures recommended by the CDC and Public Health Department. The CDC has information available on its website, https://www.cdc.gov , that provides the latest information about the virus.

We continue to have a temporary suspension of the guarantee on Priority Mail Express International destined for China and Hong Kong, which has been effective since Monday, Feb. 10, 2020, due to widespread airline cancellations and restrictions into this area.  In addition, customers may see delays in mail and packages destined to China as well as from China. The Postal Service is undertaking all reasonable measures to minimize the impact to our customers.

Regarding the importation of packages, the CDC states there is likely very low risk that COVID-19 can be spread from products or packaging shipped from China, because of poor survivability of coronaviruses on surfaces.  Also, according to the CDC, there currently is no evidence to support transmission of COVID-19 associated with imported goods; and there have been no reported cases of COVID-19 in the United States associated with imported goods.

And we can check this page for service alerts, of which there is one now: https://about.usps.com/newsroom/service-alerts/

USPS Service Alerts

The Postal Service is continuing to monitor the circumstances around the novel coronavirus, also known as “COVID-19.”  We are sharing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) guidance regarding the COVID-19 epidemic to our employees via stand up talks, employee news articles, messages on bulletin boards, and internal messaging inside USPS workplaces.

Currently, we are not experiencing operational impacts as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic and we are using this time to review/revise our contingency plans should they be needed.  Customers can view our most recent media statement and find a link to the CDC guidance at https://about.usps.com/newsroom/statements/usps-statement-on-coronavirus.htm .

Regarding the importation of packages, the CDC states there is likely very low risk that the COVID-19 can be spread from products or packaging shipped from China, because of poor survivability of coronaviruses on surfaces.  Also, according to the CDC, there currently is no evidence to support transmission of coronavirus associated with imported goods; and there have been no reported cases of COVID-19 in the United States associated with imported goods.

We can view and sign up for USPS Industry Alerts here:  https://postalpro.usps.com/industryoutreach/alert_and_notices

 Industry Alerts and Notices

Industry Alerts inform industry Stakeholders about important information regarding USPS webinars, promotions, products, and other news. Below are archived alerts, for up to date alerts please subscribe to the Industry Alert mailing list, by contacting IndustryAlert@usps.gov.

Federal Register Notices filed by the Product Classification department of the United States Postal Service are listed on the Postal Explorer website at pe.usps.com.

USPS Service Alerts communicate information to consumers, small businesses and business mailers about postal facility service disruptions due to weather-related and other natural disasters or events. Service alerts are done in near real time.

Please let me know if you have questions or anything you want me to pass on to USPS.

Best, Steve

Stephen Kearney

executive director

Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers

1211 Connecticut Ave, NW, Suite 610

Washington, DC 20036

Tel: 202-462-5132

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