MAC™ Gold Certification

MAC Gold is a system certification process designed in cooperation with the mailing industry to evaluate USPS^® manifest mailing products manufactured by software developers. MAC Gold certification determines whether the manifest mailing software accurately lists and calculates postage for identical and/or nonidentical-weight permit imprint mailpieces submitted according to the standards of the DMM^® reference manual and Publication 401, Guide to the Manifest Mailing System. The scope of MAC Gold is focused on the manifest system's ability to correctly process First-Class Mail, Priority Mail, Parcel Post (all single-piece rate), and Insurance with the integrated barcode along with Confirmation Services. MAC Gold is available only to software companies that develop manifest products for resale or internal use.

Once the appropriate forms are submitted to the National Customer Support Center (NCSC), mailers using a MAC Gold system are pre-certified to use Confirmation Services. No additional Manifest Mailing System (MMS) approval is necessary to begin mailings as long as the system is installed and operating according to the software developer's instructions. MAC Gold approval procedures, mailer quality control requirements, and postal acceptance procedures are different from the typical MMS procedures and are outlined in Publication 401, Chapters 11-12.

Although MAC Gold evaluates and certifies USPS manifest mailing systems, the program does not guarantee acceptance of customer mail prepared using MAC Gold certified software. However, MAC Gold does provide national approval of manifest listings, postage statement facsimiles, and other USPS forms required for manifest mailings. Participation in this program is voluntary, and each user is responsible for proper software installation, use, and quality control maintenance.

Use of MAC Gold certified software greatly reduces the occurrence of manifest errors and increases the accuracy of postage payment. In doing so, the business mail acceptance process is streamlined and the efficiency of mail processing is improved.

The MAC Gold Certified products list provides information regarding the manifest software's features and capabilities as well as contact information to learn more about a specific product. The MAC Gold Certified Software Products Listing is available at http://ribbs.usps.gov/files/mac/csp/mac_products.pdf.

For more information regarding MAC Gold certification, contact the MAC Gold coordinator at 1-800-238-3150.