USPS Updates Privacy Records for Safer Online Mail Handling
Published Date: 1/9/2026
Notice
Summary
The USPS is updating two important privacy record systems to make their policies easier to manage, boost security for online shopping, and improve their IT search tools. These changes affect anyone whose info is stored in these systems and will take effect on February 9, 2026, unless people send in comments before then. No extra costs are expected, just smoother and safer service for all.
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 2 costs, 2 mixed.
Most Records Retained 24 Months; One for 25 Years
Most categories of records in the revised systems (access, security analysis, productivity, collaboration, email, cloud storage, multimedia, development, etc.) are retained for 24 months. Records for Unofficial Foreign Travel Monitoring (SEAD 3 covered individuals) are retained for 25 years, and Board portal collaboration data is retained up to 12 months from the close of the event.
Chat Assistant Conversations Linked to Users
USPS will provide employees access to a large language model (chat assistant) and will associate chat assistant conversations with individual USPS employee users. The system allows employees to voluntarily provide chat conversation data to large language models for future model training and development.
Broad Tech and Productivity Data Collected
The USPS will collect and store extensive IT, security, productivity, collaboration, email, web browser, multimedia, cloud storage, development, and eCommerce oversight records about employees, contractors, suppliers, third parties, and participants in web meetings. Many specific data items (for example: IP address, geolocation data, email body text, chat histories, device identifiers, and activity logs) are listed in the systems of records.
New eCommerce Oversight and Audit Data
USPS will implement an application providing oversight into employee activity related to eCommerce and will maintain eCommerce application oversight records (for example: user ACE credentials, managed application IDs, account creation/deletion, API tokens, alert groups, and third-party tool integrations).
Changes Take Effect February 9, 2026
The USPS is revising two Privacy Act systems of records and the revisions will become effective on February 9, 2026 unless comments received by that date lead to a different decision. The notice says these changes affect anyone whose information is stored in these systems.
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Key Dates
Related Federal Register Documents
2026-18371, Labels 888, 889, 891, and 892, Discontinued
The Postal Service is proposing to amend Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM[supreg]) to discontinue the use of Label 888 and Label 889 respectively. Revisions to the DMM concern only Labels 888 and 889.
2026-17884, Free Matter for the Blind and Other Physically Handicapped Persons
The Postal Service is revising Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM[supreg]) to clarify the applicability of the Hazmat Handling Fee, and to require a parcel barcode, on parcels mailed as Free Matter for the Blind and Other Physically Handicapped Persons (Free Matter).
2026-17986, Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is responding to public comments regarding the creation of a new General Privacy Act System of Records (SOR) USPS 820.225, Federal Ballot Mail. The new SOR coincides with the Postal Service's publication of the Final Rule amending the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM), regarding the transmission of mail-in or absentee ballots for federal elections. The Postal Service created the SOR to maintain a list of individuals, each individual's address, the unique Intelligent Mail barcodes printed on each individual's outbound and return ballot envelope for a federal election, and the state or political subdivision thereof that issued such ballot for inclusion on a state's Mail-in and Absentee Participation List, as required by the new DMM section. There will be no changes to the new system of records in light of public comments received.
2026-17640, Change in Rates of General Applicability for Competitive Products
This notice sets forth time-limited changes in rates of general applicability for competitive products.
2026-16016, New Mailing Standards for Live Animals
The Postal Service proposes revising Publication 52, Hazardous, Restricted, and Perishable Mail (Pub 52), for various package requirements for live animals. This proposal will improve package integrity and container identification for all live animal shipments during processing and handling by prohibiting the reuse of fiberboard containers and requiring individual addressing and sequential numbering for multiple container shipments when bound together in a single shipment. Also, this proposal requires mailers to write the recipient's name and address directly on the packaging of Adult Bird shipments in the event the shipping label becomes detached from the packaging.
2026-15420, Duty Collection for Domestic Mail Arriving From Certain Insular Possessions and Territories
The Postal Service is revising Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM[supreg]), section 608, to provide instructions for customs clearance and the prepayment of applicable customs duties, taxes, and fees for certain goods mailed from American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and U.S. Virgin Islands destined to the customs territory of the United States (CTUS), which is defined in 19 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 101.1 as the fifty States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
Previous / Next Documents
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The Department of Homeland Security updated its Fiscal Year 2025 Senior Executive Service Performance Review Boards by removing two members and adding six new ones. These boards help decide how top executives are rated and rewarded based on their work. This update ensures fair and fresh reviews for senior leaders, affecting performance pay and awards starting in 2025.
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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is holding a public meeting on January 14, 2026, to discuss changes in how they vote and organize themselves. Anyone can listen in person or by phone, with American Sign Language services available. This update makes the Commission’s decision-making more open and clear, with no extra costs or delays expected.