The U.S. Postal Service, bowing to pressure from private mailbox companies, their customers, public interest groups, state agencies and Congress, is about to scrap another controversial section of a private mailbox rule adopted to combat mail fraud and identity theft.
Many direct marketers and mail monitoring companies rent mailboxes from the USPS or private companies so they can track the postal service’s delivery performance while making sure their mailing lists are not misused or stolen.
Three months after eliminating a section requiring Commercial Mail Receiving Agencies (CMRAs) to provide personal information about their customers, the USPS said it is prohibiting postal workers or private mailbox company employees from disclosing information about mailbox renters.
That information includes the name, address and telephone number of an individual or business mailbox renter, according to a notice about the rule change the USPS published in Monday’s Federal Register.
In that notice, the USPS said it was modifying the rule “in response to concerns for the safety of battered individuals, their children, stalking victims and other persons who consider themselves at risk of harm if their physical location is not kept private [and] to provide a greater degree of privacy and security to the growing number of small business owners who operate out of the home.”
It also noted more than 300 written comments had been received about the rule–most expressing concern about privacy issues–from private mailbox companies, their customers, members of Congress, several state and federal agencies and public interest groups including the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence; the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the Coalition for the Homeless.
Despite the modifications, the rule, which has been in effect since last April, still prohibits private mailbox renters from using words like “suite” or “apartment” in their addresses which must include the letters “PMB” or the number sign (#) as an indication that the mail is being sent to a commercial mail receiving agency.
It does require mailbox renters to provide the renting agency–the USPS or a private company–with photo identification, such as a driver’s license, passport, government or “recognized” corporate identification card, and verification that they either live or conduct business at the address given at the time of the rental.
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