I’m not sending U.S. Mail. or using the U.S. Mails. Notes about general delivery.

Most companies offer a paper-less billing option. American Express, on their ‘go paperless’ page, shows two options overall: (1) U.S. Mail (2) Paperless. Of course, we know there is a 3rd option: post office drop-letters; meaning sending letters without [not part of] United States Mail.

This screenshot shows clear as day that it’s not just ‘mail’ it’s specifically “U.S. Mail”, meaning the mail of United States, in Congress Assembled. Congress raises rates for their own mail regularly, but seemingly not touched the rate for non-governmental letters.

U.S. Mail option in Amex

It may be worth noting that Merriam-Webster dictionary says ‘mail’ can also mean “a conveyance that transports mail” and simply mean “a nation’s postal system – ‘packages sent through the mails'”.

Again, here is the law (not statute) that states the lower rate for letters not sent through the mail but instead sent by the post office or it’s carriers.

bk 12 statutes at large chapter 71 section 23

snippet from statutes at large

A Bing search shows that ‘drop letter’ is “a letter mailed at a post office and addressed locally to someone who is to call for it at the same office. This is also known as a general delivery letter.” It is widely known that ‘general delivery‘ can be used to send letters to someone who may be traveling through an area or is temporarily staying in an area and does not have a home to which to send letters.

Wikipedia and the Free Dictionary refers to drop letters as a letter mailed and delivered by the same post office.

I’m definitely not sending domestic letters as that refers to within United States, meaning the territories and the federation’s operations. And this means I’m not sending domestic letters since First Class means Domestic.

Statutes at large snippet about first class 'domestic' mail.

Another main point of sending letters is to show one does not need (or want to use) the zip codes, as the codes refer to federal territory. Likewise with the two-letter acronyms, such as NY or TX, which refer to the federal states, meaning the federal territory within each state, such as possibly the national parks.