Postmark changes at the Post Office

In August of this year, the US Post Office announced a new rule that included without much fanfare a MAJOR change in when letters are postmarked. Under this new rule, most letters will no longer be postmarked on the day the letter is received by a post office but instead postmarked a day later when the letter is processed at a regional mail processing facility.

To be clear, however, any discrepancy between the date when the Postal Service first accepted possession and the date reflected on a postmark applied in a processing facility will be only one day in the vast majority of cases. Mail sent Monday through Friday at a [non-regional processing facility post office] won’t be postmarked until the next day. Mail sent on a Saturday won’t be collected until Monday morning, and it won’t be scanned until Monday afternoon or evening, so the postmark will be two days after it was sent. If a piece is sent on a Saturday before a Monday holiday, it may not be collected, processed and postmarked until Tuesday — a gap of three days.

Wis. Stat. § 74.87(7)(a) — property tax payments timely if postmarked by midnight of the due date (note: other provisions here allow for receipt within five days of the due date or administrative error by the postal service). Please be aware of this if you are paying property taxes by mail!

So, Wisconsin law generally presumes that all mail is postmarked when mailed (i.e., picked up that day by a letter carrier).

But, under this proposed postmark practice, any letters mailed outside of a fifty mile radius from a regional processing facility will NO LONGER BE POSTMARKED when received by the post office but will instead be postmarked a day or two later (or more) when the letter is processed at a regional mail facility.