Compliance for CMRAs
Postal mail compliance is all about making sure Commercial Mail Receiving Agencies follow federal policy when they receive mail for others. Let’s explore what postal compliance means and how PilotoMail makes it easy.
How PilotoMail Does Compliance
PilotoMail has fully automated compliance, making it easy for your new customers to fill out the PS 1583 form, and you as a CMRA, fulfill your compliance requirements. Our Compliance Assistant, Paloma, gives you real-time insights and full oversight of the compliance activity at your spaces every step of the way, helping you meet postal compliance demands more readily and focus on what matters most for your organization.
Smart PS 1583 Forms
During onboarding, PilotoMail's Paloma reads your customers’ IDs, capturing the necessary data to auto-populate the form. It also updates automatically whenever a customer updates their home address, adds an authorized mail recipient, or uploads a new ID.
Automated Follow-ups & Status Alerts
The compliance assistant nudges your customers to finish their compliance process & keeps you informed with status notifications on all the compliance activity at your space such as alerts on expired IDs. You can also send your non-compliant members ad hoc reminders with the click of a button.
Compliance Dashboard
Track all the compliance activity at your space with a new dashboard. See overall progress, identify lagging members, and get notified about expiring IDs or missing updates. You can also dive into each of your customer’s compliance progress to pinpoint specific hurdles and configure smart follow-ups.
Mail Compliance for CMRAs
Postal mail compliance is all about making sure you, as a business, follow the rules and regulations when you receive physical postal mail for others. The Postal Service revised the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service to reflect updates in regulations for Commercial Mail Receiving Agencies (CMRAs).
A CMRA is a business that receives U.S. mail for multiple customers from the Postal Service.
They provide a private mailbox, mail forwarding, and reshipping services to individuals and businesses, accepting delivery of mail on behalf of another. These are often shared or commercial spaces, such as coworking spaces, mail centers, etc.
CMRA compliance refers to the rules and regulations set by postal authorities and government agencies to ensure the security, privacy, and proper handling of mail of a CMRA.
CMRAs that do not comply with regulations may be suspended. CMRAs must comply in 30 days or less, or the Postal Service may terminate the CMRA’s authorization to accept mail on behalf of others.
A CMRA owner needs to apply to operate legally by submitting a completed PS Form 1583-A, Application to Act as a Commercial Mail Receiving Agency.
A CMRA owner needs to apply to operate legally by submitting a completed PS Form 1583-A, Application to Act as a Commercial Mail Receiving Agency.
Recently, minor changes have been made to the form. See the updated PS Form 1583-A.
If you’re receiving mail for others, you must be registered as a CMRA.
To prevent mail fraud and maintain security, CMRAs are required to verify the identities of their customers before providing mailbox services. This helps ensure that only authorized individuals or entities have access to the mail.
The CMRA must ensure that all its addressees (customers) have a current PS Form 1583 on file and that the information for each addressee is up to date in the USPS CMRA Customer Registration Database.
Updates must include termination dates for any PMBs closed in the previous quarter. Any expired, illegible, or unclear identification or address documents uploaded into the CMRA Customer Registration Database will be considered not in compliance.
The CMRA must maintain, at a minimum, a digital copy of a completed PS Form 1583 at the CMRA business location. The PS Form 1583 must be available at all times for examination by Postal Service representatives and Postal Service inspectors.
The CMRA must retain the endorsed copies of PS Forms 1583 for a minimum of 6 months after the termination date. PS Forms 1583 filed at the CMRA business location must be available at all times for examination by Postal Service representatives and Postal Service inspectors.
If any information on PS Form 1583-A changes over time or expires, the CMRA owner must submit an updated form to the Postal Service.
The Postal Service will scan and upload this form to the Postal Service’s Facilities Database (FDB).
The USPS is creating a new online database, the Customer Registration Database (CRD), where all CMRAs must submit their customer account information.
A CMRA must enter the information provided on each PS Form 1583 and upload a clear and legible copy of each identification document into CRD.
The CMRA must certify in the USPS CRD each quarter (certification due on January 15, April 15, July 15, and October 15), that every PS Form 1583 it submitted is current, all termination dates have been updated, and no identification documents are expired.
The proper notification must be in writing outlining the specific violation(s), with a 30-day period to comply.
The remail of mail intended for the addressee (customer) is the responsibility of the CMRA. This includes at least a 6-month period immediately after the termination date of the agency relationship between the CMRA and the addressee. The addressee (customer) must provide the remail address (or email if correspondence is scanned for digital delivery) on PS Form 1583. The remail address must be entered into the USPS CMRA Customer Registration Database. If the addressee collects his or her mail in person at the CMRA, but elects to have his or her mail remailed for the 6-month post-termination period, the CMRA must record this remail address on the CMRA’s copy of PS Form 1583 and enter this remail address in the USPS CMRA Customer Registration Database with the date of termination.
Non-compliant CMRAs may face suspension but will have 30 days to rectify issues and comply with regulations.
USPS recently updated Commercial Mail Receiving Agency regulations as part of government fraud prevention measures. Keep in mind that this process is ongoing. For the most up-to-date information on CMRAs in 2024, visit the official U.S. Postal Service or other related government websites or reach out directly.
Mail Compliance for Mailbox Renters
Mailbox renters must give CMRAs permission to receive their mail. A renter who wants to use a CMRA for their mailing address must:
A customer who signs up to rent a mailbox at a Commercial Mail Receiving Agency (CMRA) must give an operator authorization to accept mail on a renter’s behalf by filling out and submitting a CMRA form along with two types of identification.
The IDs include government-issued photo identification, such as a driver’s license or passport. Identification documents must be current (not expired).
A renter must provide two types of identifications with at least one containing a photograph of the addressee.
Acceptable documents for the first ID:
- U.S. State/Territory/Tribal Driver’s or Nondriver’s ID Card
- Uniformed Service ID
- U.S. Access Card
- U.S. University ID Card
- Passport
- Matricula Consular
- NEXUS Card
- Certificate of Naturalization
- U.S. Permanent Resident Card
Acceptable documents for the second ID:
- U.S. State/Territory/Tribal Driver’s or Nondriver’s ID Card
- Current Lease
- Mortgage or Deed of Trust
- Home or Vehicle Insurance Policy
- Vehicle Registration Card
- Voter Card
🚨 Social Security cards, credit cards, and birth certificates are not acceptable forms of identification.
To give an operator authorization to accept mail on a customer’s behalf, a customer must fill out and submit a CMRA form 1583 along with two types of identification.
The USPS 1583 Form grants a CMRA the authority to receive mail on the customer’s behalf. It also ensures that a responsible party is linked to the mailbox.
Here is the step-by-step cheat sheet on how to complete the updated USPS Form 1583. The numbers correspond to the boxes in the form.
Any changes to the information on a PS Form 1583 will require submitting a new PS Form 1583.
Like a P.O. Box number, a private mailbox also includes a personal number for a mail operator to identify a mailbox.
A virtual business address should always include a private mailbox number, or PMB, that is unique to a renter.
A mail operator can identify and accept mail as long as it includes either the company name or authorized recipients verified in the account, plus the PMB number.
To ensure the customer’s mail is not returned to sender, a customer must add their PMB. A mail operator may return mail without a proper address to the sender endorsed “Undeliverable as Addresses, Missing PMB or #Sign.”
To ensure smooth and accurate mail delivery, mailpieces must include a delivery address that contains:
Line 1: Intended addressee’s name or other identification.
Line 2: PMB and number or the alternative # sign and number.
Line 3: Street number and name, post office box number, or rural route designation and number.
Line 4: City, State, and ZIP Code (5-digit or ZIP+4).
Compliance Resources
