A mailer may choose to have a third-party designee receive its records. In these cases, the Postal Service releases proof of delivery information to the mailer’s approved third-party designee. If the mailer does not give approval for a third-party designee, then a third-party designee cannot receive proof of delivery letters on behalf of the mailer.
When a mailer joins the bulk proof of delivery program and indicates that a third-party designee is to receive its records, the Postal Service sends an
e-mail to the third-party designee informing the designee of the mailer’s activation date for the program.
Each third-party designee has one universal key code for all records it receives, regardless of the number of mailers. When managing records for multiple mailers, the third-party designee must separate each mailer’s records and provide each mailer with access to only its records. Under no circumstances can a third-party designee share its universal key code or allow one mailer to access the records of another mailer.
A third-party designee who has mailers wishing to participate in the bulk proof of delivery program must ensure that each customer completes PS Form 5053, which serves as authorization for the third-party designee to receive that mailer’s records. As indicated in 2-1, the third-party designee must place the mailer’s DUNS number in the PIC or in the Client DUNS Number field in the electronic file, Detail Record 1.
For each individual mailer that the third-party designee represents, the Postal Service may send to the third-party designee two separate types of PDF files:
- One type of PDF file contains all of the mailer’s proof of delivery records (with a maximum of 1,000 proof of delivery records per file).
- The other type contains a corresponding Table of Contents.
If the third-party designee requests files on CD-ROMs, both types of PDF files will be on the CD-ROM; if the third-party designee requests Signature Extract Files, the Postal Service will send two separate types of PDF files. For example, if a third-party designee represents 20 mailers, it will receive 20 CD-ROMS (if using the CD-ROM option) or at least 40 individual PDF files (if using the Signature Extract File option).
Note: No Table of Contents file is provided when the customer elects to receive records individually. See 3-1 for more information.
A third-party designee who wishes to receive its own delivery records for personal mailings must establish a separate DUNS number and place it in the Detail Record 1 or Header Record (as stated in 2-1), or must use a unique DUNS number in its PIC and files.
