The U.S. Postal Service has released the final rule on its “summer sale,” which will provide discounts for high-volume mailers of commercial or non-profit Standard Mail letters and flats between July 1 and September 30.

According to the final rule, participants in the program will receive a 30 percent discount on qualifying pieces. The program initially excluded mailers that are already participating in the saturation mail volume incentive program, but the rules have been revised to allow mailers to participate in the summer sale “independently of their status within the saturation mail volume incentive program.”

To be eligible, companies must have mailed more than one million pieces between Oct. 1, 2007, and March 31, 2008. Mailers demonstrating Standard Mail or flat volume above their established “threshold” level will receive a credit during the end of the program period. Thresholds will be calculated independently for each applicant by comparing the volume mailed between the periods of October 7, 2007-March 31, 2008 and October 1, 2008-March 31, 2009.

Mailers who meet the eligibility criteria will be contacted by letter; those who don’t receive a letter can request a review of their eligibility by sending an e-mail to summersale@usps.gov [1].