Steve Murden wrote:
> Second, I have noticed a consistent notice in all of the renewals
> from Mary Ann Liebert.  It says:
>
>      New postal regulations require that we have complete street
> addreses for our subscribers.
>
>      Please check your address as shown on this renewal form.  If
> your street address is missing, please fill in the required street
> and number information on this form and return to us along with
> your renewal form.
>
>      By correcting your address, you will ensure faster and intact
> delivery by the postal system.
>
> Can anyone tell me what those new postal regulations are?  At my
> university, all mail is delivered to the university post office,
> and is dsitributed centrally from there.  We are not allowed to
> have direct mail delivery at our libraries.  In our case, putting
> the street address on our mailing labels would only cause
> confusion.  If I received my personal mail through a PO Box, they
> certainly would not require me to list my street address (or the
> street address of the PO) on my incoming mail.  Is this another
> case of someone misinterpreting postal regulations?  Or (a worst
> case scenario), another case of the USPS setting illogical
> regulations?

YES!  Our library is not alone!

Steve,
For the past two weeks, we have been receiving letters and calls every
couple of days from publishers and vendors regarding our street address.
Due to the United States Postal Service (USPS) Classification Reform,
publishers and vendors are asking for (in some cases demanding) a street
number or else we will not get the mail they send out.  I have tried to
explain to these people that our Campus Mail system handles our mail.
We've also made sure they have the correct zip+4, but it's not good
enough.  They want that street number.

After doing a bit of research, I found that the USPS has initiated a
major Classification Reform (published March 12, 1996).  Part of the
reform is for senders to meet "higher standards for address accuracy
represented by the move update requirement" (USPS press release,
November 14, 1996).  The deadline for the requirement to take effect is
July 1, 1997.

We are in the same situation as you, Steve.  Our Campus Mail service
delivers our mail and we have never needed a street number/address.  But
how do you make our scenario clear to others who "have to have a street
address?"

At least I now know our library is not alone in this predicament.  If
anyone has any advice on what to tell others who call and write asking
for a street number, it would be much appreciated.

Also, we have the same problem with renewal notices - coming directly to
us rather than going to the vendor.  I usually forward the bill to the
vendor along with a form letter asking the vendor to contact the
publisher and make sure the billing address is the vendors and not ours.
However, it isn't a long term solution since it does cost us postage and
is not fullproof.  If you find some answers to this one, please post to
the list!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ann Smith                          Phone (706) 542-5053
Library Associate                  Fax   (706) 542-5001
University of Georgia Law Library  absmith@uga.cc.uga.edu
Athens, GA  30602-6018
      http://www.lawsch.uga.edu/libstaff/smith.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~