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Many members have requested information on the Mail Design Professional certification course. GREAT NEWS! It’s available online at NO COST and can be accessed at any time.

Below is information from PostalPro regarding the online course and exam. Once on PostalPro, enter MDP into the search bar and click on Mail Design Professional (MDP) Online.

Mail Design Professional (MDP) Online

Mail Design Professional is a self-paced online certification course approved by the U.S. Postal Service®. The course can be accessed at any time and as many times as desired for free. It is estimated at 12 hours for full completion, but this will vary depending on the individual. In addition to the free course material online, if a student would like to become a certified Mail Design Professional, successful completion of the exam is required. Please visit https://imbg.usps.com/mdp to enroll.

This course is ideal for those who wish to maximize their proficiency in designing letter-size and flat-size mail to meet USPS® standards and obtain certification as a Mail Design Professional. The course includes:

  • Postal addressing standards
  • Classes of mail and processing categories
  • Intelligent Mail® and package barcode format and print specifications
  • Designing automation letters and flats (tabbing, polywrap, deflection, flexibility, etc.)
  • Reply mail (Business, Courtesy, Meter, Permit Reply and Merchandise Return Service)
  • Address Information products and Move Update

Learners will also receive information on design standards for:

  • Customized Market Mail
  • Repositionable Notes
  • Election Mail Logos
  • Privately Printed Labels
  • Reusable Envelopes

To become a certified Mail Design Professional, successful completion of the exam is required. You can sign up to take the exam from the MDP website. The certification is good for a two-year period once you have successfully completed the 100-question exam at 80% proficiency.

Please remember that the new exam is completed online on the MDP website.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

USPS National and Illinois News

News from USPS National and USPS Great Lakes Area.
USPS will issue its 11th stamp celebrating Kwanzaa, the pan-African holiday observed by millions of Americans each year from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1.
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The U.S. Postal Service will release a new commemorative stamp celebrating the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. This special issue continues the long-standing postal tradition of honoring the nation's premier military service institutions.
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WASHINGTON — Below are the prepared remarks of Postmaster General and CEO David Steiner, delivered during the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors open session on Aug. 7, 2026.
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WASHINGTON – The U.S. Postal Service today announced its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 (Apr. 1, 2026 - Jun. 30, 2026). Controllable loss, which excludes certain expenses that are not controllable by management, was $1.0 billion for the quarter, compared to controllable loss of $1.6 billion for the same quarter last year.
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ILLINOIS — The U.S. Postal Service will observe Memorial Day on Monday, May 25. All Post Office locations will be closed. Regular mail delivery and retail services will resume on Tuesday, May 26.
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ILLINOIS — Saturday, May 9th marks the 34th anniversary of the largest one-day food drive in the nation – the National Association of Letter Carriers' Stamp Out Hunger® Food Drive.
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A guided tour of the new Hammond Sorting and Delivery Center (S&DC) highlighting updated operations, state-of-the-art package sorting technology, facility upgrades, and Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDVs). Interviews will be available following the tour.
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ILLINOIS — The U.S. Postal Service is reminding customers in Illinois that Post Office locations will be closed and regular mail delivery will not occur on Presidents’ Day, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026.
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USPS Makes It Easy To Send Something Real This Valentine’s Day
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PostalPro News

News from PostalPro.
On Sunday, August 30, 2026, the United States Postal Service will implement the following software change:• Enterprise Payment System (EPS) 8.7.0.0These Pre-Release Notes provide the contents of the release and affected subsystems.The section titled Corrections to Known Issues is derived from External Trouble Reports (ETRs) for inclusion in this release.This document is prepared based on the knowledge available at the time of its publication; any element of its contents is subject to change prior to the release.
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This document outlines the CASS/MASS certified vendors list for RDI™ Cycle O.
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