Definition of Accelerated Reply Mail (ARM)

service of U.S. Postal Service for expediting the delivery of business reply mail from an originating postal facility to the addressee. ARM is most often used to expedite the receipt of orders and payments, reducing float by as much as one or two days and speeding the processing of orders. Marketers using ARM must print a different reply envelope for each geographical cluster of customers so that their payments and orders are addressed to the ARM facility nearest the customer rather than the postal facility nearest the marketer. At ARM facilities, reply mail is available for pickup at a postal window or loading dock by the marketer's agent, such as a fulfillment house, accounting service, or bank, or it can be packaged and express mailed for overnight delivery to the marketer. For example, a New York City-based marketer with customers in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Boston would print a different reply envelope for payments from each of those cities. Agents in each city would pick up the payments and deposit them locally. ARM is economical for mail volumes in excess of 250 pieces per day or payments averaging more than $150 each.