ORLANDO, Fla. – A new U.S. Postal Service rule that took effect Dec. 24 changes when mail gets postmarked, potentially affecting bill payments and other time-sensitive documents.
Under the new policy, mail is now postmarked when it reaches a sorting facility rather than when it’s first dropped off, which could result in items being marked a day or more later than their actual deposit date.
“There are many people, those even older than me, that use mail all the time, so I think it’s a huge concern,” said Cathy Clark, a USPS customer in Kissimmee. “Many years of mailing your bills and now, everything’s kind of on autopay and internet, but there are many people that use mail all the time.”
Clark recalls her mother’s anxiety about mail delivery times.
“We’d go down and pay her bill at KUA directly. She wouldn’t even mail it because she was worried about turnover times,” she said.
The rule change could particularly affect overseas voters. While most Florida mail-in ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day regardless of postmark, overseas ballots face different requirements. The Osceola County Supervisor of Elections states, “The only ballots that can be accepted after election day, and may be impacted by any changes with postmarks, are overseas ballots. Overseas ballots must be postmarked or dated no later than the date of the election and received no later than 10 days from the election.”
“Well, it’s one more domino in that problem of mail-in voting that’s already problematic,” Clark said.
Tax returns could also be impacted. Documents dropped off just before the April 15 deadline are likely to receive the next day’s postmark, potentially making them late.
The postal service advises customers to mail items well ahead of deadlines to ensure timely postmarks under the new system.