Earlier this year, the USPS^® announced a new mailer identification (MID) requirement that will take effect on January 31, 2011. This requirement states that nine-digit MIDs used for Confirmation Services and Electronic Verification Systems (eVS^®) must begin with the number 9. Due to this new requirement, a six-digit MID can only start with 0-8, with 9 being reserved for the nine-digit MIDs.

While some might see this new policy as an inconvenience, it’s for a good cause. Planned upgrades to the MID system center around this requirement and will enable a number of new activities, such as customer profile management that is both centralized and automated, self-service capabilities, and Intelligent Mail^® features.

To see the official announcement regarding this requirement, refer to page 10 of the July 29, 2010 Postal Bulletin.