The Postal Service wants the recipient's name written on the box itself for adult bird shipments, in case the label falls off

The Postal Service wants the address written on the box.

Not only on the label, which is the point. A proposed rule filed at the Federal Register on Wednesday morning would add a line to the mailability requirements for adult birds requiring the recipient's name and address to be written directly on the packaging as well, and the marking instructions say why in seven words: in case the shipping label becomes detached during shipment.

Comments close 30 days after Thursday's publication.

No reused boxes

The rule would add a note to the general requirements for animals stating that fiberboard containers must not be reused for live animal shipments, on the ground that they are highly likely to degrade in transit.

Container construction gets a floor at the same time. A shipping container for a mailable live animal would have to be at least 275-pound test, double-wall, corrugated, weather-resistant fiberboard, or equivalent. Postal Service packaging, including Flat Rate containers, would not be eligible at all.

One label, five addresses

The other change is about what happens when a shipment comes apart.

Where several containers are strapped together, a single shipping label should still be applied to the bundle, but each container would need its own address label, and all of them would have to be numbered in sequence. The rule gives the format: one of five, two of five, and so on. The stated purpose is to make sure each box can still be handled correctly if it is separated from the others in transit.

Adult bird boxes carry a longer marking list. It runs to the words Live Birds and a Postal Service approved container number once one is issued, complete sender and recipient addresses with phone numbers on the outer packaging, directional arrows showing which way is up on at least two sides, and the handwritten recipient details.

Where the rule actually lives

None of this sits in the Code of Federal Regulations directly, which is worth knowing if you go looking for it.

The document these changes amend is Publication 52, the Postal Service manual for hazardous, restricted and perishable mail. Publication 52 is incorporated by reference into the Domestic Mail Manual, which is itself incorporated into the CFR, so the chain reaches the regulations at two removes. It is published free on the Postal Explorer site in read-only form.

Comments go to the Director, Product Classification, by post or by email with the subject line Live Animals. Faxed comments will not be accepted.