39 C.F.R. § 310.3

Exceptions

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(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 § 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 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]

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 8 cases, 1983–2018 · leading case: Regents of the Univ. v. Pub. Emp. Relations Bd., 485 U.S. 589 (1988).

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Regents of the Univ. v. Pub. Emp. Relations Bd., 485 U.S. 589 (1988). · cites it 16× “§ 1694 ; 39 CFR § 310.3 (b) (1987), and the "private-hands" exception, 18 U.”

Regents of Univ. of California v. Pub. Emp. Relations Bd., 139 Cal. App. 3d 1037 (Cal. Ct. App. 1983). · cites it 2× “2 (b)); (2) letters carried by the same person sending or receiving them (or an employee) ( 39 C.F.R. § 310.3 (b)); (3) where the carriage is without compensation ( 39 C.”

Am. Postal Workers Union v. React Postal Servs., Inc., Mountain Bell Tel. Co. & United States Postal Serv., 771 F.2d 1375 (10th Cir. 1985). · cites it 5× “The trial court then examined the regulation at 39 C.F.R. § 310.3 (1984) 8 , and found that “React’s operation separates and consolidates letters according to addressee,” and such separation and consolidation were explicitly outside the Section 310.”

Policastro v. Tenafly Bd. of Educ., 710 F. Supp. 2d 495 (D.N.J. 2010). · cites it 2× “Policastro stamped: LETTERS OF THE CARRIER SENT BY ANDY POLICASTRO 39 C.F.R. § 310.3 (b)(1) On the letters themselves, he included a banner message stating, “I DID NOT HAVE ANY PRIOR APPROVAL OF THE PRINCIPAL TO MASS DISTRIBUTE THIS MEMO IN THE TEACHER MAILBOXES.”

Knox v. Brnovich, 336 F. Supp. 3d 1063 (D. Ariz. 2018). · cites it 2× “" 39 C.F.R. § 310.3 (c). Similarly, under the so-called "Carriage Prior or Subsequent to Mailing" exception, the PES's criminal penalties "shall not prohibit any person from receiving and delivering to the nearest post office, postal car, or other authorized depository for mail…”

Fort Wayne Cmty. Schs. v. Fort Wayne Educ. Ass'n, Inc., & United States Postal Serv., 977 F.2d 358 (7th Cir. 1993). “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 § 310.”

Regents of Univ. of California v. Pub. Emp. Relations Bd., 124 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3019 (Cal. Ct. App. 1986). · cites it 3× “” (See also, 39 C.F.R. § 310.3 (b).) 4 18 United States Code section 1696 provides in pertinent part: “(a) Whoever establishes any private express for the conveyance of letters or packets, or in any manner causes or provides for the conveyance of the same by regular trips or at…”

Untitled Texas Attorney Gen. Opinion (Tex. Att'y Gen. 1989). “4) For purposes of this suspension, 'internal mail systems' are those which carry letters on, between, and among the various campuses of a single college or university and which operate in accordance with the Letters of the carrier exception in 39 CFR 310.3(b). Whether the…”

— 39 C.F.R. § 310.3(b) — 2 cases

Regents of Univ. of California v. Pub. Emp. Relations Bd., 124 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 3019 (Cal. Ct. App. 1986). “” (See also, 39 C.F.R. § 310.3 (b).) 4 18 United States Code section 1696 provides in pertinent part: “(a) Whoever establishes any private express for the conveyance of letters or packets, or in any manner causes or provides for the conveyance of the same by regular trips or at…”

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