LAWTON - A seemingly small rule change by the United States Postal Service could have a big impact on mail that relies on postmarks as proof that a legal deadline has been met.
As of Dec. 24, 2025, the postmark on a piece of mail no longer is applied when the letter or package is received by the USPS; it now marks when a postal facility begins processing the mail. A new section, titled “Postmarks and Postal Possession/’ was added to the Domestic Mail Manual outlining the change and informing the public on how to obtain proof of when a document is received, according to federalregister.gov.
The rule change proposal was published in the Federal Register on Aug. 12, and noted that the presence of a postmark confirmed that USPS was in possession of the mailpiece on the date of the inscription, but the postmark date did not necessarily align with the date the Postal Service first accepted possession. The notice in the Federal Register explained that the postmark was not previously defined in any Postal Service regulations.
Customers who will need proof that an item was accepted by the post office by a certain date are advised to request a manual (local) postmark at no cost or can purchase a Certificate of Mailing.
Possible impacts
When public comment was sought on the proposed rule change, the Postal Service received 130 comments, according to the Federal Register, and noted that 80 responses were form letters.
“Numerous commenters among them several election officials, one county Board of Elections, and certain independent institutions - expound at length on mail-in voting, raising concerns about postmarking deadlines and potentially discarded Ballot Mail,” the document said.
USPS responded to the criticism of how mail-in voting could be impacted by stating that the Postal Service does not establish rules or deadlines that govern elections.
“While the Proposed Rule contains information of potential relevance to election officials and to citizens who choose to vote by mail, the Postal Service does not administer elections, establish the rules or deadlines that govern elections, or determine whether or how election jurisdictions utilize the mail or incorporate our postmark into their rules.
“The Postal Service also does not advocate for or against any particular voting practices (including mail-in voting).
Instead, the Postal Service collects, processes, transports, and delivers mail and packages that are mailable under Federal law. As part of that role, we deliver the nation’s Election Mail when public policymakers and election officials choose to use the mail as a part of their election system and when citizens choose to utilize our services to participate in an election,” the Federal Register documented.
In addition, the Postal Service acknowledged that third parties have “utilized the postmark for various purposes and have potentially infused it with their own particular meanings.”
USPS went on to explain that third-party use of the postmark include “court rules that concern the filing of specific documents, federal statutes such as the Internal Revenue Service code, state tax statutes and other laws, and numerous election jurisdictions that utilize the postmark to accept certain completed ballots as timely when they are sent by mail but are received after Election Day.
“Numerous commenters also invoke these third-party uses, along with government benefits applications; contract and business transactions; insurance claims and premium payments; and sweepstakes, contests and promotions,” the document said. There is a concern that the new postmark rule will cause an uptick in missed deadlines.
“If customers are aware that the postmark date may not align with the date on which the Postal Service first accepted possession of a mailpiece, they will be better equipped to adjust their plans accordingly. And if policymakers or other entities that create rules utilizing the postmark date are aware of what the postmark date signifies, they are better equipped to determine whether their rules adequately serve their purposes,” USPS responded to the concern.
Regional Transportation Optimization
The necessity to educate the public on the “Postmark and Postal Possession” was in part fueled by the Regional Transportation Optimization (RTO) initiative, USPS said, and the corresponding adoption of “leg”-based service standards.
It is part of the larger “Delivering for America” plan, which aims to modernize the USPS network.
“Basically, RTO means if you are a smaller post office outside 50 miles from a processing center, you will not have your mail picked up at the end of the day,” National Association of Postal Supervisors North Central Area Vice President Dan Mooney said in an August 2025 press release.
“It will be picked up the next morning when mail is brought to be delivered that day. Mail taken in over the counter, mail brought back by carriers and mail collected from collection boxes will remain at the office until the next morning and be picked up and taken to be processed.
“The plus to this initiative,” he said, “is it is supposed to save millions of dollars by eliminating PM dispatches in RTO offices. The negative is this initiative will slow down mail, mainly in rural America. It also will eliminate overnight Express Mail in many post offices.”
Mooney concluded by saying, “Let’s all hope for the sake of the USPS that the savings outweigh the service impacts when all is said and done.”
Debi DeSilver is an award-winning, third-generation Oklahoma journalist whose writing career now spans 50 years. She can be reached at silverdtypublishing@gmail.com.