USPS Postmark Change Could Lead To Late Fees & Penalties

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

SF VIP
Location
New Jersey
Although below it refers to changes that will take place in 2026, the synopsis in Chrome search, ahead of links to news articles about this change states it already started on December 24th.

"The U.S. Postal Service is making new changes in 2026, including adjustments to the postmark process, which could result in late fees and penalties for anyone mailing time-sensitive documents such as tax returns or bill payments."

"A USPS postmark used to indicate the date when mail was dropped in a mailbox or submitted at the post office counter. Now, USPS is clarifying in a new rule that the postmark will reflect the date an envelope is first processed by an automated USPS sorting machine, potentially days after it was dropped off – not the actual drop-off date."
Postmark change could impact getting ballots, bills in on time
 

Naturally said:
@OneEyedDiva ... I think you're right. It has already started.
I dropped a letter off at my local post office Monday the 22nd (after 7P.M.)
The recipient told me the letter was postmarked Dec 24th.
So virtually a 2 day delay in postmark, after I dropped the letter off.

I'd thought it was just because of the busy holiday season. Guess not eh.
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Well, so much for automation making things better! :cautious:
 

The bank that I worked for always went by the date payments were received and not by the postmark.

It was hard for some people to understand but we tried to explain that you owed the money to the bank and not to the post office.

We did occasionally allow some leeway to zip codes that were going through some sort of weather related natural disaster but that was extremely rare.
 
I have been noticing that I am getting more than the usual number of mailings from businesses that do not have a postmark date at all. I started noticing after I received a bill that said it was due in three days and the correspondence inside was dated over a week prior. They are not mailing them on the date on the enclosures.
 
DebraMae said:
I have been noticing that I am getting more than the usual number of mailings from businesses that do not have a postmark date at all. I started noticing after I received a bill that said it was due in three days and the correspondence inside was dated over a week prior. They are not mailing them on the date on the enclosures.
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Yes, that's annoying. No date on the envelope and no date on the letter inside either.
 
I rarely mail anything out anymore. I have everything on auto pay. Or I pay bills online individually as they come in. I can't even remember the last time I actually mailed something.
 
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