[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 39, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 39CFR310.3]

[Page 143-144]
 
                        TITLE 39--POSTAL SERVICE
 
                 CHAPTER I--UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE
 
PART 310_ENFORCEMENT OF THE PRIVATE EXPRESS STATUTES--Table of Contents
 
Sec.  310.3  Exceptions.

    (a) Cargo. The sending or carrying of letters is permissible if they 
accompany and relate in all substantial respects to some part of the 
cargo or to the ordering, shipping or delivering of the cargo.
    (b) Letters of the carrier. (1) The sending or carrying of letters 
is permissible if they are sent by or addressed to the person carrying 
them. If the individual actually carrying the letters is not the person 
sending the letters or to whom the letters are addressed, then such 
individual must be an officer or employee of such person (see Sec.  
310.3(b)(2)) and the letters must relate to the current business of such 
person.
    (2) The fact that the individual actually carrying the letters may 
be an officer or employee of the person sending the letters or to whom 
the letters are addressed for certain purposes does not necessarily mean 
that he is an officer or employee for purposes of this exception. The 
following factors bear on qualifications for the exception: the carrying 
employee is employed for a substantial time, if not fulltime (letters 
must not be privately carried by casual employees); the carrying 
employee carries no matter for other senders; the carrying employee is a 
regular salaried employee and shares in all privileges enjoyed by other 
regular employees (including employees not engaged primarily by the 
letter carrying function), including but not limited to salary, annual 
vacation time, absence allowed for illness, health benefits, workmen's 
compensation insurance, and retirement benefits.
    (3) Separately incorporated carriers are separate entities for 
purposes of this exception, regardless of any subsidiary, ownership, or 
leasing arrangement. When, however, two concerns jointly operate an 
enterprise with joint employees and share directly in its revenues and 
expenses, either of the concerns may carry the letters of the joint 
enterprise.
    (c) Private hands without compensation. The sending or carrying of 
letters without compensation is permitted. Compensation generally 
consists of a monetary payment for services rendered. Compensation may 
also consist, however, of non-monetary valuable consideration and of 
good will Thus, for example, when a business relationship exists or is 
sought between the carrier and its user, carriage by the carrier of the 
user's letter will ordinarily not fall under this exception; or, when a 
person is engaged in the transportation of goods or persons for hire, 
his carrying of letters ``free of charge'' for customers whom he does 
charge for the carriage of goods or persons does not fall under this 
exception.
    (d) Special messenger. (1) The use of a special messenger employed 
for the particular occasion only is permissible to transmit letters if 
not more than twenty-five letters are involved. The permission granted 
under this exception is restricted to use of messenger service on an 
infrequent, irregular basis by the sender or addressee of the message.
    (2) A special messenger is a person who, at the request of either 
the sender or the addressee, picks up a letter from the sender's home or 
place of business and carries it to the addressees home or place of 
business, but a messenger or carrier operating regularly between fixed 
points is not a special messenger.
    (e) Carriage prior or subsequent to mailing. (1) The private 
carriage of letters which enter the mail stream at some point between 
their origin and their destination is permissible. Except as provided in 
paragraph (e)(3) of this section, however, the carriage of letters

[[Page 144]]

from a place where they have been opened, read, separated, or otherwise 
utilized, does not fall within this exception even though such letters 
had previously been in the mail stream. Similarly, the carriage of 
letters to a place where they will be consolidated or otherwise utilized 
does not fall within this exception even though they will subsequently 
enter the mail stream.
    (2) Examples of permitted activities are the pickup and carriage of 
letters which are delivered to post offices for mailing; the pickup and 
carriage of letters at post offices for delivery to addressees; and the 
bulk shipment of individually addressed letters ultimately carried by 
the Postal Service.
    (3) The private carriage of letters from branches of an organization 
to a location for preparation for mailing does not constitute a 
consolidation. The private carriage of letters from an organization's 
point of mail delivery to its branches in the locality does not 
constitute a separation.

[39 FR 33211, Sept. 16, 1974, as amended at 44 FR 52834, Sept. 11, 1979; 
45 FR 59873, Sept. 11, 1980]