Changes at USPS could delay postmarking
Rural customers of the United States Postal Service (USPS) may be accustomed to longer waits for their mail to arrive, but changes to the system nationally could mean delays in postmarking, as well.
Beginning Dec. 25, 2025, a change proposed to the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM), which outlines USPS standards and policies, took effect which could impact how USPS customers use postmarks.
According to a document shared with WTIP by USPS Strategic Communications Specialist Desai Abdul-Razzaaq, who manages communication for USPS offices in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Dakota, the policy around post dates has not changed, but rather the transportation route that mail takes may be impacted.
“While we are not changing our postmarking practices, we have made adjustments to our transportation operations that will result in some mailpieces not arriving at our originating processing facilities on the same day that they are mailed,” the document read.
The language in the new section of the DMM creates a more specific definition of a postmark. While previously many people understood the postmark to give the date thatmail was accepted by the post office, under the updated DMM the postmark will reflect only when the mail is stamped at a processing facility.
Postmarks are applied to cancel the postage attached to an envelope, and includes a date and location where the mail was processed. Depending on where mail is dropped off, they may also indicate the date that a mail piece was accepted by the USPS. Under the current policy, postmarks are usually applied by automated cancellation machines, which are located in Regional Processing and Distribution Centers and larger processing facilities. Only some Local Processing Centers have automated cancellation machines.
For USPS customers whose local offices are small enough that they do not have automated cancellation machines, this means that more than a day could pass between mail being dropped off at the local office, and the postmark being applied at a larger sorting facility. USPS customers in the Arrowhead are likely already familiar with this system.
While the change may not influence the time it takes for mail to make it from sender to receiver, date-sensitive mail, like ballots , tax returns, or bills, which may need to be post marked by a specific date could be impacted.
In an explanation of the addition to the DMM, issued by the USPS and published in the Federal Register in November of 2025, it was stated that the change “increases the likelihood that a postmark applied at originating processing facilities—the locations where postmarks are typically applied—will contain a date that does not align with the date on which the Postal Service first accepted possession of the mailpiece.”
According to the Federal Register publication, during the public comment period that preceded the DMM update, the USPS received a number of critical comments expressing concern over the impact that the change could have on elections in areas where mail-in ballots are either an option or the only options.
“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 USPS stated in the publication. “Boards of Elections and other officials who administer elections are free to issue guidance to voters as they see fit.”
Abdul-Razzaaq said that while they will not automatically apply a postmark to all mail they receive, USPS customers can always request that the staff at their local post office provide a date of postage. He said, “If a customer wants to ensure that a mailpiece receives a postmark and that the postmark aligns with the date of mailing, the customer may take the mailpiece to a Post Office, station, or branch and request a manual (local) postmark at the retail counter when tendering their mail piece.”
In a publication in the Federal Register from August of 2025, the USPS explained that machine cancellations and the dates on the postmarks that come from them have never been a perfect way of knowing when a letter or mail piece may have been accepted by a post office. They said that unforeseen delays in transportation or other disruptions can arise which would prevent the mail from being postdated on the day it was initially received.
Abdul-Razzaaq said that this change to DMM language aims to clarify the purpose of postmarks and how customers understand them. “It does not signal a change in postmarking procedures with regard to how or what we postmark, but is instead intended to improve public understanding of the information postmarks convey, when in the course of operations they are typically applied, and their relationship to the date of mailing,” he said.
Kirsten Wisniewski January 19, 2026
